Top Seeds Central, Hixson Advance In 6-AA Baseball

Both Win Run-Ruled Games Over Tyner, Red Bank

  • Saturday, May 2, 2015
  • John Hunt

The name of the game for high school baseball teams is to win and advance when it comes to district tournament time.

Such was the case at Red Bank Saturday afternoon where the top two teams in District 6-AA advanced to Monday’s winners bracket with easy wins.

Top-seeded Central had to come from behind, but they did so with ease as they scored 14 runs in the final two innings to beat Tyner, 17-7.  And in Saturday’s second game, the Hixson Wildcats scored at least one run in each of the first four innings and sent Red Bank to the losers bracket following a 13-1 defeat.

Central and Hixson will meet on Monday night at 7.  Tyner and Red Bank play the first game on Monday at 4:30 with the winner advancing to meet the Central-Hixson loser.

The championship game is set for 5 p.m.

on Wednesday afternoon and a second game would be played immediately afterward if necessary.

CENTRAL 17, TYNER 7: This certainly wasn’t the prettiest or best-played game of the season, but a win is a win and that’s all Central coach Glen Carter is concerned with.

Tyner got off to a great start, only to falter in the late innings.  Central, on the other hand, had a miserable start and a strong finish.

As a result, Central advances to the winners’  bracket final on Monday at 7 while Tyner drops to the losers bracket and will face Red Bank on Monday at 4:30.

“That’s what you call winning any way possible.  At this point in the season, we’ll take it,” said Carter after his team had improved to 15-12 with the win.

“Tyner came out swinging, but we were able to come back with a nice counter.  We had split with them during the regular season, so they weren’t scared of us.

“I thought we were a little gun shy at the start, but we settled down and got some better swings as  the game went on.  But I’m proud of the way we kept battling and were able to come back,” Carter added.

Tyner coach Rob Flowers was quick to credit Central for a nice comeback.

“They did a nice job of coming back.  We had ‘em and should have won, but my starting pitcher had a blister and had to come out.  We played well for the first four innings, but we left too many runners on base and we made too many mistakes,” he nodded.

The Rams scored three runs in each of the first two innings and had a comfortable 6-2 lead after two frames.

Mike Haywood had an RBI single in the first while the other two scored on wild pitches.  Then in the second, Emanuel Moss had an RBI-single before Cameron Simpson ripped a two-run single to left.

Central scored its first two runs without the benefit of a hit as the Rams made three errors in the inning, including two on the same play.

Gabe Fomby tripled in the third and scored on a single by Jake Hood to draw the Purple Pounders to within 6-3. 

Then in the fourth when Tyner pitchers had a tough time finding the strike zone, Central sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs.

Central then won the game with eight more runs in the fifth, the big hits being a two-run single by Tyler Lowe, a three-run double by winning pitcher Will Waters and a two-run triple by Andrew Bingham to end the game.

Central finished the game with 17 runs on just nine hits.  The Pounders also benefitted from four Tyner errors, 10 walks and three hit batters.

Fomby was the only Pounder with two hits and he scored four times. 

D’onte Reviere and Simpson both had two hits for the Rams, who finished with eight total hits.

HIXSON 13, RED BANK 1: The third time wasn’t the charm for the Lions as they lost to Hixson for the third time, the last time by the most decisive margin of a dozen runs.

It didn’t take long for the Wildcats to take control.

Using a leadoff double by Matt Oxford, Hixson took advantage of an infield error, two walks and a hit batter to score three runs and Hixson never looked back.

A double by Logan Rigsby in the second plated Brandon Carver, who had singled, and the game was still close at 4-0.

 Red Bank then scored its only run of the game when Jaylon Moore’s single drove in D.J. Hale, who had doubled with one out.  Hixson southpaw Tanner Moylan then retired the next two Lions and that trouble spot was overcome.

The Wildcats then broke it open with a four spot in the third with Carver and Tyler Weaver having run-scoring singles.  Other singles by Cabe Davis, Connor Atwood and Parker Tyo combined with three errors and another walk and all of a sudden, Hixson was sailing along on cruise control.

Five runs in the fourth extended the lead to 13-1, so when Moylan retired the side in Red Bank’s fifth, the game was over.

“We swung the bats well today,” said a happy Hixson coach Colton Green after his team had improved to 14-12.

“We got a nice lead early, but didn’t stop scoring the rest of the game.  Tanner didn’t have his best stuff today, but he still just allowed one run on four hits, but I don’t think he’s allowed five walks all season.

“I’m ready to play the next one right now as it’s the one that counts, but I felt like we showed up ready to play and got a nice win as a result,” Green added.

Red Bank coach Trey Hicks felt like his team hit the ball hard, but often at position players.  He did point to his team’s lack of defense as a critical factor.

“We struggled on defense as we gave them at least nine extra outs.  That’s not a good thing in a short game like this.  We put the ball in play, but we hit it right at people.  Their hits fell in while ours didn’t,” he said matter of factly.

“But that’s the way it goes in high school baseball.  We tip our hats to them and move on.  Now we  have to get ready to play on Monday,” Hicks said, his team now 11-13 overall.

The Wildcats finished with 13 runs on a dozen hits. 

Oxford, Carver and Weaver all had two hits each while Carver scored four times and Oxford three.

Red Bank finished with four hits, including two by Moore and one each by Hale and Alex Chambers.

TYNER  330 100 – 7 8 4

CENTRAL  201 68 – 17 9 1

Moss, McIntosh (4), Haywood and Wilson; Bingham, Will Waters (3) and Lowe.

RED BANK   001 00 – 1 4 5

HIXSON  314 5x – 13 12 0

Brown, Tate (3) and Moore; Moylan and Rollins.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)

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