Farragut pitcher Patrick Raby tried to pick off East Hamilton's Garrett Stone at first base, but threw wildly and Stone wound up at third with Hurricanes coach Steve Garland. Raby struck out two to escape the threat.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – East Hamilton, playing in its first TSSAA Spring Fling Class AAA state baseball tournament game at Siegel High School on Tuesday, went up against a championship machine and battled courageously before falling to top-ranked Farragut, 2-0, at Siegel High School.
The Admirals, gunning for their 10th state title and second in a row, got a two-hit shutout and 13-strikeout performance by hard-throwing right-hander Patrick Raby, a Vanderbilt signee.
Farragut struggled against East Hamilton’s Nick Fahler, but got a two-out, two-run triple from Tyler Lugo in the sixth inning for the win.
Fahler pitched a four-hitter and fanned four in a strong effort.
“Fahler gave us a great shot to win,” East Hamilton coach Steve Garland said, “but we just came up short.”
East Hamilton fell into the loser’s bracket and will face Ravenwood, which lost to Houston, 6-1, Wednesday at 10 a.m. Central time, again at Siegel. Farragut advanced to the second round and will play Houston at 12:30 p.m. on the same field.
Raby was overpowering early, retiring the first 14 before Fahler laced a clean single to left field to break up the perfect game. Garrett Owen followed with a bloop single to right that moved Jeffrey Coleman, who was running for Fahler, around to third.
But Raby, who didn’t walk a batter and faced only 23, two over the minimum, struck out Hunter Smith for the second time to thwart the threat.
“I didn’t know that much about East Hamilton, other than it’s a pretty new school,” said Raby, who has an 11-2 record – he gave up only one earned run in the two losses. “They played their hearts out and made us fight for this one.”
East Hamilton’s Garett Stone led off the sixth with a single and went to third when Raby’s pickoff throw sailed down wildly past first baseman Jake Hagenow.
The Hurricanes’ Matt Watters missed an attempted squeeze bunt and Stone was tagged out in no-man’s land between home and third.
Raby retired in the side in the seventh, including strikeouts of Josh Aslinger and Nick Woods to end the game.
“This guy is the man,” Admirals coach Matt Buckner said. “He’s one of the best pitchers in Tennessee and he’s a strike-throwing machine. Patrick is as good as it gets.”
In retiring the first 14, Raby recorded seven strikeouts. And he finished as strong as he started, notching two strikeouts in the sixth and seventh innings.
Fahler gave up just three hits over the first five innings and never allowed a runner past second.
“Credit Patrick Raby,” Garland said. “Everybody knows about that guy, but people didn’t know about our guy, a Carson-Newman signee. He’s a really good pitcher.”
The Farragut sixth started off innocently enough with Chase Fullington leading off with a single to right. Fahler induced Duncan Pence to ground into a double play.
Threat killed?
Not quite.
Nico Mascia hit a high fly to dead-center. Matt Milita, one of the best outfielders in Chattanooga, lost it in the twilight. Still trying to pick up the ball, it fell about 10 feet to the right of Milita and Mascia wound up at second base.
Fahler walked Jake Hagenow. Then Tyler Lugo scorched a line drive off Fahler to center over Milita’s head to drive in the game’s only two runs.
“I didn’t think the lighting was good,” Milita said. “I couldn’t get a read on the ball. I never saw the first one. The second one I saw it, but just got a bad angle on it. That ended up costing us. I’ve got to do a better job out there.”
Said Garland, “Matt Milita is one of the guttiest in the six-year history of our school. I wouldn’t trade him for anybody. That first ball out there he didn’t see it. Lugo put a charge into the triple. That was a hard-hit ball and it was a tough play. That’s baseball. But if you can’t score, you can’t win.”
Just before Milita lost the ball in center, Watters at third lost sight of a pop-up, but it went out of play behind the third-base dugout.
Milita later made the case for the Hurricanes’ ability to stay with the Admirals.
“We played good ball,” he said, “and the guys realize we can play with anyone in the tournament. We showed that tonight.”
East Hamilton just couldn’t muster runs against Raby. The first five batters in the Hurricanes’ lineup went a combined 0-for-15.
LINESCORE
East Hamilton 000 000 0 – 0 2 0
Farragut 000 002 x – 2 4 1
Fahler and Owen; Raby and Mascia.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)
East Hamilton ran into a buzz saw against Farragut right-hander Patrick Raby, who threw a two-hitter and struck out 12 in a 2-0 victory over the Hurricanes.
photo by Dennis Norwood