ATHENS, Tenn. – Bradley Central is done.
Seventh-seeded McMinn County continued its upset run in the District 5-AAA baseball tournament on Friday by knocking off the defending champion Bears, 9-6, at McMinn County High School.
The Cherokees (11-13), who beat No. 6 Cleveland, 13-4, on Wednesday, rallied with eight runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to eliminate the Bears (11-16).
Bradley County teams – the Bears, Cleveland and Walker Valley – have now been ousted from the tournament.
McMinn County now faces No.
2 seed East Hamilton on Saturday at 1 p.m. At 4 p.m., the fourth-seeded Ooltewah Owls play top-seeded Soddy-Daisy. The winners advance to Sunday’s winner’s bracket final at 4 p.m. after the losers play at 1 p.m.
Tribe catcher Hayden Fesmire went 2-for-3, including a double, and Roman Lockmiller smacked a two-run homer in a three-run fifth inning that gave coach Matt Ray’s club a 6-4 lead.
Dylan Leamon went 2-for-4, with an RBI, and Steven Cruze added a double for the Cherokees.
Bradley, which beat Soddy-Daisy, 1-0, in a classic championship duel last spring for the tourney championship, grabbed a 4-0 lead only to see the Cherokees wipe it out with a nine-hit attack.
Tanner Cox was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Tyler Carpenter doubled and scored twice and Gunnar Norwood had a run-scoring double for the Bears.
Bradley was held to five hits. In 28 games this season (one spring game ended in a tie), the Bears scored more than six runs only once.
LINESCORE
McMinn County 001 233 0 – 9 9 1
Bradley Central 130 020 0 – 6 5 2
Powers, Curtis (5), Edgeman (5) and Fesmire; Hamilton, King (5), Hammonds (5) and Mantooth.
Saturday’s Schedule
East Hamilton vs. McMinn County, 1 p.m.
Ooltewah vs. Soddy-Daisy, 4 p.m.
Sunday’s Schedule
East Hamilton-McMinn loser vs. Soddy-Daisy-Ooltewah loser, 1 p.m.
East Hamilton-McMinn winner vs. Soddy-Daisy-Ooltewah winner, 4 p.m.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)