Halls came out swinging against Ooltewah on Saturday.
The Owls just couldn’t hit Tigers pitcher Braden Hudson.
As a result, Halls whipped the Owls, 7-1, behind Hudson’s two-hitter at A.C. Bud Ball Field in Ooltewah Invitational baseball action.
“Braden hasn’t pitched a whole bunch,” Halls coach Doug Polston said. “He threw a bunch of strikes today and certainly kept us in the ballgame.”
Sophomore catcher Kolby Hinshaw collected the Owls’ first hit with an infield hit in the fifth inning.
The Red Devils (4-1) didn’t waste time grabbing an early lead against Ooltewah’s Trevor Wiggs, a freshman making his first varsity appearance.
Logen McMahan led off the first inning by ripping a double to right-center field and Dylan Gresham reached on third basesman Hayden Bradley’s throwing error. On that play, McMahan raced to third.
Bryce Hodge’s single to left scored McMahan with the game’s first run and after Gresham went to third on a wild pitch, he scored on Jonah Cook’s groundout to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
Another Bradley throwing error allowed Jonathan Wyrick to reach first and the overthrow sent him to second to get the second inning started. Wiggs wild-pitched Wyrick to third and he scored on Blake Lawson’s groundout, giving Halls a 3-0 advantage.
“Defensively, we’re throwing a freshman and we have to make plays if he’s going to throw strikes,” Ooltewah coach Brian Hitchcox said. “He filled the (strike) zone up and there were plays to be made, but we let him down. We lost the war of freebies by giving them too many walks, hit by pitches and our errors. When you’re facing a good team and don’t make plays, they’ll make you pay for it.”
Only one of four runs Wiggs allowed was earned. Senior Hayden Bradley singled with one out in the sixth and stole second. He was stranded there when Caleb Collins flied out to left and Vince Vantiegham grounded out.
“I don’t think our approach at the plate was very good early and it didn’t get any better,” Hitchcox said. “We didn’t make adjustments and (Hudson) just kept doing it. That’s concerning and disappointing.
“We haven’t played a lot of baseball and, hopefully, we’ll get better.”
Wiggs escaped any further damage in the fourth and Hitchcox brought in sophomore reliever Jackson Malcolm to start the fifth inning.
Gresham smacked a single to left – there was nothing cheap about any of Halls’ seven hits – and Hodge followed with his second single. Both runners advanced on a Malcolm wild pitch and scored when Cook cracked a blue-darter past Vantiegham at first.
Cook later scored on Ross’ sacrifice fly to center.
Gresham and Hodge combined to go 4-for-6 with four runs scored and two RBIs.
"Besides our games, we’ve only been able to practice or scrimmage seven times this spring,” Polston said. “But we’ve swung the bats pretty well this weekend.”
Hitchcox used Vantiegham, one of six seniors on the year’s roster, on the mound for two no-hit innings to wrap up the game.
Vantiegham allowed two runners, one on Mitch Duncan’s error at short and a walk.
McMahan reached on the misplay with two out in the sixth, but Vantiegham induced Gresham into an inning-ending groundout.
In the seventh, Hodge walked. Cook hit into a double play and Vantiegham recorded his third strikeout to end the inning.
The Owls bounced back later Saturday to beat Sequoyah, 1-0, in their final invitational game and improved to 4-3 on the season.
LINESCORE
Halls 211 030 0 – 7 7 2
Ooltewah 010 000 0 – 1 1 3
Hudson and Ross; Wiggs, Malcolm (5), Vantiegham (6) and Hinshaw.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)