LEBANON, Tenn. – In the blink of an eye, McCallie’s Quinn Smith went from heart-pounding ecstasy to heartbreak.
Third-ranked McCallie had battled furiously with top-rated Christian Brothers for two hours.
It was the seventh inning. CBHS led 3-2.
McCallie had the bases loaded, the tying run 90 feet away.
CBHS’ James Muse, a University of Memphis signee, went to a 3-2 count on Smith.
Muse got the sign.
He wound up. And fired a pitch toward Smith.
It appeared to be low and away.
Smith made a move toward first base. William Korn, who got his second straight single to start the inning, headed for home.
Before either player could take a step, the plate umpire signaled ball four.
Christian Brothers walked away with the 3-2 victory at Wilson Central High School and right into Thursday’s Division II-AA championship game at Middle Tennessee State University in the TSSAA Spring Fling state baseball tournament.
The Blue Tornado (22-10) went into shock.
“At first I thought I had walked we got the tying run in,” Smith said. “I was excited. Then, it was strike three. There’s nothing we can do about that last call. Now all we have to do is win three games.”
The Tornado had to regroup for a 5 o’clock (Central) game against Briarcrest in the loser’s bracket final. Briarcrest beat Pope John Paul, 7-6, earlier Wednesday, 7-6, to stay alive. McCallie turned back Briarcrest, 4-2, in Tuesday’s opener.
“There’s no doubt we can do it,” Smith said of the challenge now facing the Tornado.
McCallie coach Greg Payne, who guided his team to second baseball crown last spring, immediately went to work with a quick meeting with his players before leaving the ballpark.
“We’ve got a mentally tough group,” he said. “You have to be mentally strong to play for me. And we still have something to prove.”
The rebound game didn’t work out so well, either.
Briarcrest scored eight runs in the first three innings and cruised to a one-sided 11-2 victory and eliminated McCallie, the defending champion, from the tournament.
Briarcrest will play CBHS (35-8) for the title on Thursday, but has to beat the Purple Wave twice to deny them the crown.
CBHS is going for its 11th state championship, most of any school in Tennessee. Farragut is closest with nine.
McCallie almost pulled off the mild upset against CBHS, despite facing a bona fide Division I pitcher.
Muse struck out two in each of the first five innings. The hard-throwing right-hander stranded runners at second (Drew Vaughn) and third (Matt Brock) in the second inning by fanning Tyson Buchanan and Alex Tucker.
In the third, McCallie broke through for a run when Korn walked, stole second and came home on Ethan Cady’s double. Muse struck out Brock to end the inning.
Korn scored both McCallie runs and had two of its five hits – a single to center in the fifth and a flare to right in the seventh.
“I was really just trying to go up the middle and help my team,” Korn said. “That last hit was a 1-2 fastball on the outside and I tried to put in play.”
While Muse was tough on the Tornado (he finished with 11 strikeouts), the Purple Wave weren’t having much success against McCallie’s left-hander Palmer Steventon, who was making his first start of the season.
Palmer did an amazing job,” coach Payne said. “He’s been a long relief guy. I told him last Friday that if we face Christian Brothers in the winner’s bracket final he was going to start.”
Why?
“I like the matchup we have with him against their team,” Payne said. “He’s got four pitches that he throws for strikes and being a left-hander was a big part of my decision.”
Steventon went the distance, allowing five hits and the three runs. He struck out three and walked none.
After McCallie scored in the third, CBHS came up with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Eric Wilson struck out on a pitch in the dirt, but reached when the ball got away from Quinn behind the plate. Keagan Voss bunted Wilson to second and he moved to third on a fly-out to right. Wilson scored on William Locke’s double to the right-center gap.
With two outs, Muse helped himself with a RBI single to right for a 2-1 lead.
McCallie tied the game in the fifth and that guy, Korn, was right in the middle of the action.
He singled to center and stole second. Tyler Payne struck out and Corbin Brooksbank grounded out, moving Korn to third.
Cady ‘s single to right scored Korn and Brock walked. Muse struck out Smith to end the inning.
In the elimination game, the Saints rocked the Tornado with 13 hits and the quick lead was more than Payne’s squad could handle after the hard-to-swallow loss – and the way they lost – to CBHS.
Von Watson did the most damage, going 4-for-5 with six RBIs and three runs scored. Ben Ellis was 3-for-4 and scored twice.
“It was important after the way we lost to CBHS to have a good start in the Briarcrest game,” Payne said. “And we didn’t do that. We dug ourselves a hole early and we couldn’t get out.
“I hated to see (CBHS) end the way it did. I can’t say any more than that, but you want the boys to decide the game. You don’t want any other factors to decide it and I think that’s what happened.”
Blake Smith scattered seven hits while striking out seven and walking four.
Tucker was 2-for-3 and Cady had two hits in four trips for McCallie.
LINESCORE
McCallie 001 010 0 – 2 5 0
Christian Brothers 001 001 x – 3 5 0
Steventon and Smith; Muse and Grisanti.
Briarcrest 341 000 3 – 11 13 2
McCallie 000 000 2 – 2 7 0
Smith and Dillard; Q. Smith, Bautista (2), Glover (2) and Cady.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)