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Columbia Camdon Frier celebrates after hitting a grand slam against Santa Fe on Friday. (ALAN YOUNGBLOOD/Special to the Reporter)
In a period from one half-inning to another, Columbia outfielder Camdon Frier went from goat to hero.
He dropped the ball off a drive in the fourth, which came right at him in right field — the first of three errors that put CHS in a bases-loaded, no-out jam. Then, in the Tigers’ ensuing turn at-bat, Frier atoned for his blunder with a game-turning grand slam to help key a 6-2 victory over visiting Santa Fe on Friday night.
“I’m glad I was able to halfway make up for what I had done,” said Frier, an FSU commit whose second home run of the season erased a 1-0 Santa Fe lead. “It felt good…it was a cool thing to see.”
The Tigers (12-2), in fact, encountered another bases-loaded, no-out trouble before walking away with the win. Both times, the Raiders (7-4) came out with just one run.
With the win, Columbia completed a perfect 4-0 homestand during spring break. Overall, the Tigers are on a five-game winning streak, which includes a victory over the team that last defeated them, Valdosta, on the second leg of the spring break homestand.
The Tigers also earned a two-game season sweep over the Raiders, also winning 10-1 in the second game of the regular season.
“I feel good about the team,” Columbia head coach Chris Howard said. “Two big wins this week. We’re coming together. We didn’t even practice this week. We took some time off, and they’ve come back to play pretty well.”
The rest from practice certainly seemed to benefit starting pitcher Josh Fernald (four innings, two hits, five strikeouts, two walks), who outdueled Santa Fe’s Dylan Lovelace (3 2/3innings, four hits, six strikeouts, two walks) to improve his won-loss record to 2-0. Both pitchers held their opponents scoreless through three innings before Columbia’s defensive breakdown forced Fernald to dig in with the bases loaded with no outs in the fourth.
Santa Fe’s first batter, Kyler Nowling, reached first when Frier dropped what should have been a flyout to right. Fernald proceeded to walk the next batter before an infield error loaded the bases without an out.
Then came the third error on a ground ball to shortstop Braydon Thomas, who bobbled the ball attempting to make a force play at second that allowed the Raiders to score for a 1-0 lead.
“It was frustrating,” Frier said. “I felt bad for Josh (Fernald), having to work that much harder. (My dropped ball) as a routine play; I’ve made that catch 100 times. I guess I was too lackadaisical. I’m not going to let that happen again.”
Fortunately for the Tigers, it was the only run Santa Fe could squeeze out. Fernald struck out Lovelace for the first out. With the infield drawn in, CHS executed a first-to-catcher force play on a ground ball for the second out.
The threat for further damage ended when third baseman Ayden Phillips fielded a ground ball and tagged third to strand three.
“You know, I really wasn’t upset with anybody,” Fernald said. “They got on base with errors, you just have to deal with it. He came up to me and said, ‘My bad.’
“I said, ‘It’s alright man. It happens.’”
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to answer. Walks to Phillips and Fernald — both on 3-2 counts — and a Carston Palmer single loaded the bases with one out.
That’s when Frier went to work, working the count against Lovelace to 3-2. He fouled off a pitch before hitting a shot over the left field wall for a 4-1 lead.
“I was just looking for a hittable pitch,” Frier said. “I know it sounds so simple. If it was a strike (I’d swing), if it’s a ball, I’ll walk. Honestly, I was just thinking ‘We’ve got ducks on the pond, we’ve got to come up with runs.’
“After (the error), I just flushed it, thought about it for a few minutes. Then go on to the next inning.”
The Tigers added another run when Branson Mann singled in Grant Bowers, who doubled, to take a 5-1 lead after four.
CHS got into another bases-jam, no-out situation in the fifth inning, this time with Phillip Maddox on the mound after a single and two walks. Again, the Raiders only managed to score one, cutting CHS’s lead to 5-2, on a sacrifice fly to deep center, before a lineout to second baseman Bowers ended the threat.
The Tigers capped off the scoring in the fifth when Phillips, who walked, scored on wild pitch for the final score.
Bynton Edge and Hayden Gustavson, who started as the catcher, pitched the final two innings to seal the victory, retiring all six batters they faced.
In all, Columbia out-hit Santa Fe 6-2. Palmer was the only player in the game with a multi-hit game, going 2 for 3 with a run scored and a stolen base.
UP NEXT
Columbia is back home again today for a matchup against Union County (8-3) at 7 p.m.