(This story has been revised)
Tyner’s Rams are making noise in District 6-AA baseball.
For seniors on coach Rob Flowers’ squad, Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Central at Tyner was historic because it was their first against the Purple Pounders.
For Chae Butler, it was another example of his superlative pitching so far this season.
Butler outdueled Central’s Tyler Lowe and recorded his second no-hitter of the year. Butler, now 3-0 for the Rams (5-1, 3-1), struck out 14 and allowed seven base runners, four on walks and the Rams committed three errors behind him.
However, Central coach Glen Carter has disputed the no-hitter, saying the Pounders actually had two hits – both by Hayden Kaylor.
In a text Thursday morning, Carter said Kaylor hit a flare to left field and the outfielder “dove for the ball and never touched it. I’m sure their scorekeeper called it an error.”
He also said Kaylor beat out an infield grounder between third and shortstop “without even a throw to first base.”
Flowers, in an e-mail response, said, “I, too, thought it was a two-hitter until the scorekeeper told me what she had. I checked with the left fielder who said he got a glove on it and could bring it in cleanly; therefore it was scored E-7.
“The play at third did not result in a throw, but that’s because the ball was bobbled between 3B and SS so the scorekeeper scored it E-5.”
Lowe finished with a two-hitter and the lone run came on a passed ball that allowed Tyner’s Bryan Wilson to score.
“It was a great battle between two great pitchers,” Flowers said. “In a game like this, you may only get one shot to win. We were fortunate to take advantage of the opportunity. It’s just one game, though, and it’s early. There’s more work to do to become a good baseball team.”
Central took Monday’s home-and-home series opener with a 7-4 win.
The veteran Central coach also pointed out an incident after the game in which “we had to fight our way out of the parking lot” because “some of their parents wanted to fight my parents.”
Carter said he and “Mr. Haywood, an umpire whose son plays for Tyner, had to separate everyone” and it took “30 or 40 minutes” to get out of the parking lot.
Flowers said, “As for the aftermath, I was still on the field talking with guys and cleaning up when it started, but my understanding was that it was isolated to one parent/fan of ours. It was not a parent of one of my players, however. Obviously, I do not encourage that kind of behavior.”
Carter took nothing from Butler's performance or that of the Rams.
"He pitched an outstanding game," Carter said. "And Tyner has been getting better every year since Rob has taken over. He has done a great job over there. Tyner will be in the mix come tournament time. Some parents/fans need to understand how to handle loss and even sometimes how to handle a win."
Tyner opened district play with a 19-0, 12-2 sweep of East Ridge. Central swept Brainerd last week and is now 3-1 in district action.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com)