East Hamilton was supposed to play Bradley Central on its new baseball field Monday.
That didn’t work out.
But the Hurricanes beat the Bears and pitching ace Ty King, 7-1, at Hixson High School to take the sting out of the excitement of playing a real home game for the first time in six years.
East Hamilton (3-2, 1-1) travels to Bradley for the second game in the District 5-AAA home-and-home series on Tuesday and are hopeful of playing their first on-campus game Wednesday against McMinn County.
Hurricanes coach Steve Garland said Sunday that the Hurricanes’ field is about three truckloads of dirt short, resulting in low spots on the infield, at home plate and the pitcher’s mound.
Garland and volunteers were working on dugouts over the weekend and would like nothing better than to take on the Cherokees on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
On Monday, the Hurricanes got to King, who went 7-0 last season against district opponents, before losing to Cookeville in the Region 3-AAA tournament, for three runs before he gave way to a reliever.
King is 1-1 this season with a win over Ooltewah in the district opener last week, a game in which he was tagged with three runs, all unearned.
East Hamilton’s Kyle Cox went 2-for-3 and scored twice, winning pitcher Nick Fahler was 2-for-2 with an RBI and run scored and Matt Watters was 2-for-2 with an RBI. Garrett Stone scored twice and had a two-run double in the Hurricanes’ four-run sixth inning.
Nick Woods, who came on in the fifth when the Hurricanes lead 3-1, pitched the final two innings and picked up a save.
Gunner Norwood was 2-for-3 to lead Bradley’s five-hit attack. The Bears’ lone run came on Tanner Cox’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
Bradley is 1-2-1 overall and 1-1 in the district.
LINESCORE
Bradley Central 000 010 0 – 1 5 2
East Hamilton 012 004 x – 7 10 1
WP – Nick Fahler (1-0)
LP – Ty King (1-1)
SV – Nick Woods