HS baseball playoffs: Langham Creek falls to Memorial

Langham Creek fell to Memorial their Class 5A Area playoff series Saturday.

Memorial won the game, 9-6, in 11 innings, and won the series, 2-0, after winning game one on Friday, 9-3.

"It was a very good game," Memorial coach Jeremy York said. "They battled; we hung in there as well. It’s a great learning experience for our kids."

York was pleased with the effort of starter Harris Rome, who pitched into the seventh inning before being pulled with a 5-3 lead. Wayne Taylor then entered and allowed Langham Creek to tie it up.

"We tried to play it by the book: He was up in pitch count, they got the tying runs on base," York said of pulling Rome, who the coach said wasn't happy about having to leave. "Harris Rome pitched an outstanding game. I think Langham is a very good hitting ballclub, and he threw a very good game."

No more runs were scored until the 11th inning when Wayne Taylor hit a mammoth 2-run home run and Memorial came up with four runs for the inning.

Taylor also  pitched four innings and wound up with the win.

"He hadn’t pitched much for us this year," York said of Taylor, who logged just two innings all year heading into the game because of a back issue. "That was something we discussed before making the change: 'We’ve got to put him out there, because he’ll bring us a lot of depth.' Going into the year, we were looking at him as one of our top three guys."

Taylor now has 14 homers in 19 games, tying what York believes is the school record for home runs in a season.

Boomer White and Bo Rathjen also homered in the win.