MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After Boyd-Buchanan’s loss on Wednesday, coach Josh Rider wanted a spark.
All he had to do was move Austin Jackson to the top of the lineup.
Jackson responded with the decision by hitting a pair of solo home runs and added a single in five at-bats while scoring three runs.
And he didn’t waste any time in the box.
His three hits came on three pitches.
That was the spark the Bucs needed and they went on to dump Huntingdon, 8-2, Wednesday morning at Middle Tennessee Christian School to stay alive in the TSSAA Spring Fling Class A state baseball tournament.
“We had to get some guys on base,” Rider said.
“We didn’t do that (Tuesday). Austin has been hitting in the number five spot, so I decided to move him up to leadoff in hopes of giving us a spark. And he did that.”
And the spark was still going when the Bucs came back for their second game of the day against Cornersville, which lost to Grace, 11-1 earlier in the tournament.
And Jackson was still electric.
The Bucs pounded Cornersville, 11-0, with a nine-hit attack and Jackson, a senior outfielder, hit his third solo homer on the day. The game was stopped in the fifth inning.
With the victory, Boyd-Buchanan gets another crack at Grace on Thursday at 2 p.m. at Middle Tennessee Christian. The Bucs have to beat Grace twice to reach the championship game on Friday at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Bucs’ aggression at the plate and on the bases was the catalyst to an impressive win that wiped away most of the memories of Tuesday’s 9-1 loss to Knoxville Grace.
With Jackson’s take-no-prisoners attitude – he smacked the first pitch from Mustangs starter Brandon Baker into left field for a single. He struck out twice in next two plate appearances, but hammered homers in the sixth and seventh to put an exclamation point on the Bucs’ victory.
It was the first time in his prep career he hit two homers in the same game, and both came off the Mustangs’ diminutive reliever Josh Coleman, whose arsenal consisted of pitches that were slow and slower.
“He definitely tried to catch me off-guard with slow curves on the outside,” Jackson said. “I made adjustments. I feel good right now that I could help my team.”
To get things started offensively, Jackson single, went to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout. Colby Morgan walked and showed Huntingdon what was to come by stealing second base. A double by E.J. Matthews scored both runners and Matthews later crossed the plate on one of three Mustangs’ errors.
Before the game was over, Boyd-Buchanan had stolen nine straight bases. The only time it didn’t work was when Seth Rogers singled in the seventh and was thrown out trying to steal second.
“I told the guys to start swinging and some first pitches and Jackson certainly did that,” Rider said. “He’s a man after my own heart.”
Jackson tore Huntingdon’s heart right out.
The Bucs (28-10) going into their second game of the day, added a run in the third when Evans walked and stole second and third. On the steal at third, Evans came on home to score on catcher Josh Furr’s throwing error.
With two out in the sixth, Jackson blasted his third homer of the season. Evans singled and scored on Matthews’ single.
In the seventh, starting pitcher Josh Antwine doubled to right and scored when Rogers slapped a hit to left.
Antwine – a Maryville College assistant coach was in the stands “taking a look” at Antwine and Skyler Anderson – went six strong innings.
He gave up a first-inning run and an unearned run in the third, but that was all the damage the Mustangs mustered against him. Antwine struck out four and walked one.
“At first I was a little bit tight,” he said. “I wasn’t throwing as hard as I usually do and my defense definitely bailed me out. It helped that we got some early runs, because last night we weren’t getting people on base and we couldn’t be aggressive.
“Today we read their pitchers and it helps to have speed on the bases. We’ve got some pretty fast guys.”
Jackson showed some patience on his third round-tripper of the day – he hit the second pitch out of the ballpark.
“It was a line rocket,” Rider said.
Morgan and Antwine each went 2-for-3, with Morgan smacking two doubles. Matthews had a triple and drove in three runs.
Evans threw a two-hitter and struck out eight while facing only 18, three over the minimum.
“Yesterday was extremely frustrating with the loss,” Rider said, “because we didn’t play our game, but we were more relaxed today. We had control of both games and the early leads allowed our pitchers to just pitch.
“We conserved our pitching and we’ll be ready to go Thursday.
LINESCORE
Boyd-Buchanan 301 002 2 – 8 9 2
Huntingdon 101 000 0 – 2 7 3
Antwine, Sewell (7) and Payne; Baker, Coleman (4) and Furr.
Cornersville 000 00 – 0 2 1
Boyd-Buchanan 510 05x – 11 9 0
Crabtree, Lowery (2) and Fox; Evans and Payne.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)