Deefield-Windsor set to begin playoff run Thursday in Albany

ALBANY — Somewhere in the back of everybody’s mind at Deerfield-Windsor, there’s probably a quiet understanding they’d rather not say out loud.

Beating a good baseball team four times in one season can get dangerous.

Especially this time of year.

The Knights swept all three regular-season meetings against region rival Tiftarea Academy, but none of those games felt comfortable for very long. One ended in extra innings. Another featured an early avalanche of runs. Even the more lopsided scores came with tension attached.

Now the rivals meet again with the season on the line.

Second-seeded Deerfield-Windsor, 15-6, will host Tiftarea, 16-11, in a best-of-three GIAA playoff series beginning Thursday afternoon at Addison Field. The teams will play a doubleheader Thursday at 4 p.m., and if a deciding third game becomes necessary, it will be played Saturday at 3 p.m. because Tiftarea has graduation ceremonies scheduled for Friday.

The stakes are significant.

The winner advances to the GIAA Final Four, and Deerfield-Windsor would host the semifinal series against either Frederica Academy or John Milledge Academy.

“We know them and they know us,” Deerfield-Windsor coach Kyle Keen said. “It always gets tougher when you’ve already beaten a team three times — that’s the way baseball is.”

That statement probably lands a little differently after the first meeting between the teams this season.

That afternoon turned into a tense, eight-inning fight before Deerfield-Windsor finally escaped with a 5-4 walk-off victory when Grier Morey lined a game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth inning. Tiftarea had already taken a late lead in the sixth before the Knights tied the game again in the seventh after a Panther error.

Nothing about it felt easy.

The other two meetings followed a similar pattern: moments where Deerfield appeared in control before Tiftarea pushed back again.

The Knights won 9-1 in one game behind 12 hits, seven stolen bases and a dominant showing from Collins Clark, David Hutchins and West Rushton. In another, Deerfield exploded for seven runs in the opening inning before holding off Tiftarea 9-3.

The Panthers’ six region losses this season all came against the top two teams in the league — three against top-ranked Valwood and three against Deerfield-Windsor.

That detail matters.

Because it suggests Tiftarea is far more dangerous than a typical No. 3 seed.

That’s the tricky part about playoff baseball between region rivals.

The records matter less. The familiarity matters more.

“We know the three guys they are going to throw at us and they know our guys as well,” Keen said.

The Panthers certainly know all about Collins Clark by now.

The region co-player of the year has become one of the GIAA’s most complete players, entering the playoffs with a .390 batting average and a 1.56 ERA. Clark has already hurt Tiftarea with both his bat and arm this season.

The Knights can also lean on one of the deepest pitching staffs remaining in the postseason.

Senior David Hutchins owns a 2.09 ERA and has repeatedly delivered steady innings in big games. Gage Tomlinson carries a 2.90 ERA and already played a major role against Tiftarea this season, driving in runs in the extra-inning win and doubling in another meeting. West Rushton has been stellar in relief.

Rushton, Drake Wiggins, Gabe Daniel, Boyd Pollock and Hutchins all earned all-region honors for a Deerfield-Windsor team that has mixed pitching depth, speed and aggressive baserunning throughout the season.

Against Tiftarea, the Knights stole six bases in one game, seven in another and seven again in the third.

That aggressiveness has become part of Deerfield’s identity.

The week off after earning a first-round bye may have helped the Knights in another important way as well.

Senior Lane Sceals is finally starting to look like himself again.

Sceals — the school’s quarterback during football season and one of its top outside shooters during basketball season — missed the end of basketball season and nearly all of baseball season because of illness. He returned for the final two regular-season games and continues gaining strength at the perfect time.

“He is getting stronger and putting some weight back on,” Keen said. “He can be a big asset when he is healthy.”

That matters in May.

Experienced players matter. Pitching depth matters. Familiarity matters.

And sometimes the strangest thing about baseball is that the more often teams see each other, the harder the games become.

Deerfield-Windsor already learned that once in an eight-inning walk-off.

Now the Knights will try to survive the rivalry one more time.