For those of you West Marion fans who don’t know much about Magee or haven’t seen the other Trojans play, you’re in luck because I have.
Magee, whose team name is also the Trojans, is the team responsible for sending Columbia home this postseason with a two-game sweep of the Wildcats in the second round, and I got to see what it is capable of in its 17-7 Game 2 victory.
Looking at Magee on paper, with its 28-5 record, .359 team batting average, 1.54 ERA and 289-93 run differential, the Trojans look very scary. Maybe it was just a good team taking advantage of the circumstances, but Magee could have been beaten by Columbia if the Wildcats wouldn’t have given up so many walks and made so many errors.
Columbia ace Javen Moses had perhaps his worst outing of the season, strictly in terms of his command. He walked six batters and had one very costly wild pitch that scored two runs over five innings, and the walks weren’t because Magee grinded out deep at-bats. Several of them were four, five or six-pitch walks where Moses couldn’t find the zone. When Moses was pitching in the zone, though, he had a lot of success and allowed just three hits.
While Magee can certainly hit, it feasted on Columbia’s fourth and fifth pitchers. When the Wildcats had their best arms still on the mound, they were leading in both games going into the final innings.
There’s no doubt in my mind West Marion ace Shelby Terrell will be able to shut down Magee in Game 1. No team has got to him all season, and his stellar 10-1 record, 1.06 ERA and 101:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 66 1/3 innings is proof of that. Magee struggled to hit both Moses and Landon Sanders, and Terrell has better stuff and more experience than both of them. That’s no dig on Columbia’s stars, but Terrell has been the best pitcher in the county since he was a freshman.
Where the matchup gets interesting is when West Marion inevitably has to turn to Jayden Duncan, Brett Jenkins, Dalton Raynes and Noel Parrett behind Terrell in the rotation. Duncan has all of the ability in the world to shut down a powerful lineup like Magee’s, but he hasn’t been as effective in his last three outings as he was toward the end of the regular season. He’ll likely get the ball in Game 2 for West Marion.
Depending on how many pitches it takes Terrell in Game 1, it will be either him or Jenkins starting a potential Game 3. Terrell was able to get through 5 1/3 innings in Game 1 against Wesson in only 48 pitches, which allowed him to start and strikeout 15 batters in the decisive Game 3. But it’s unlikely he can go that deep in the game again while West Marion has a comfortable lead with under 50 pitches that will allow West Marion to preserve him for Game 3. That leaves Jenkins as the likely Game 3 starter if the series needs a third game.
Jenkins had the best game of his West Marion career his last time out, a complete game gem against St. Andrew’s April 29. But he’s also been roughed up a few times this season as well. The southpaw recently dropped his arm angle, which added some extra movement to his fastball that stymied the Saints, but there’s really no telling if he can have the same kind of effect against Magee.
Outside of Game 1, I think Magee is going to put up some runs in this series, so it ultimately comes down to which West Marion offense shows up. West Marion has gone through periods where it struggles to string together hits, but it also has had its moments where the entire lineup gets hot. West Marion is going to need to be opportunistic and use small ball to its advantage.
Magee’s top three pitchers are really good at pitching to contact and limiting walks, but the defense behind them has made 77 errors in 33 games. West Marion is going to need to consistently put the ball in play, use some bunts with runners on and let Magee’s defense make mistakes.
When you line up the two teams, I believe West Marion has the pitching edge and Magee has the better offense. The difference is going to be the fact that West Marion has home-field advantage and will host Game 1 and Game 3, if necessary. I see this series going all three games, with West Marion winning Games 1 and 3 to advance to the Class 3A State Championship.
Pictured Above: West Marion's Jayden Duncan strokes a single against Wesson May 2 at home. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
