CLEVELAND, Tenn. – If one is around baseball long enough, sooner or later you’ll see the unimaginable.
Like Cleveland’s third inning against Silverdale Baptist Academy on Saturday at the Toby McKenzie Baseball Complex on the Bradley Central campus.
The Blue Raiders scored 11 runs in the inning – 10 before the Seahawks recorded an out – while collecting seven hits with 16 players batting and taking full advantage of one error and five wild pitches to turn a tight game into a Trojan Classic rout on a bright, breezy Saturday.
Cleveland (13-11) banged out 13 hits off four Silverdale pitchers, garnered 13 RBIs by various methods, every Blue Raider in the lineup scored at least one run and collected at least one hit.
“We had 11 straight guys score in that inning,” Cleveland coach Preston Scoggins said. “Obviously, it was a great inning for us. It was good to see our hitters getting back in the swing. We’ve been struggling lately to get quality at-bats.”
That wasn’t a problem against the Seahawks.
Ezekiel Jeserum, batting third in the lineup, led the way by going 3 for 4 with a run-scoring single and RBI double in the third, plus a two-run double in the sixth for a total of four RBIs. He also scored once in the big inning.
“That was great for our team,” Jeserum said of the 11-run onslaught. “It was awesome. I don’t recall when everyone was hitting the ball like that this season. As for me, I’m seeing the ball a lot better in the last few games.”
Jake Griffin was 2 for 5, scored twice and drove in two runs from the No. 2 slot.
Michael May, nestled in the No. 7 spot, went 2 for 4 with a run scored and one RBI.
Down at No. 9, Tyler Standifer had only one hit – a fourth-inning single – but managed to score three times.
“We have some aspects of team that we have to correct,” said Silverdale coach Jonathan Adcock, who was an assistant at Cleveland for four years before going to Silverdale. “The way we approached the first inning, we’ve got to start better. We have to be more aggressiveness on offense and defense and our pitchers have to be more consistent. We’ve got a lot of little things to work on as well.”
Here’s how the third inning went:
Dylan Turner walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on Griffin’s single and scored on Jeserum’s single.
Griffin later scored on the fourth wild pitch by Silverdale starter Collin Lovell.
That’s two runs.
Jeserum went to second and third on wild pitches and scored the third run on Kent Christian’s single.
Run No. 3.
Noah Sills, who drew a walk, came home on Michael May’s hit for the fourth run.
Chantz Placek, who also walked, went to second and third on back-to-back hits and scored when Alex Green was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Run No. 5.
Christian trotted home on third baseman Collin Daniell’s throwing error. That’s No. 6.
May, who advanced on the hit-by-pitch and error, scooted home on wild pitch No. 5 and that was run No. 7.
Green eventually scored on Griffin’s second single of the inning. Tyler Standridge, safe on the throwing error, went to second on wild pitch No. 5 and also scored on Griffin’s second single. Runs No. 8 and No. 9.
Jeserum’s double pushed Turner home – he walked in his second at-bat in the inning. Run No. 10.
Sills fanned for the first out.
Placek singled to right for run No. 11.
Christian struck out. May struck out and the Seahawks’ nightmare was over.
“Cleveland hit the ball well in key spots in that inning,” Adcock said, “but if we make a couple of plays and get a few breaks to go our way it’s a different ballgame. But you have to give (Cleveland) credit because they really produced at the top of the order.”
The first four Blue Raiders were a combined 7 for 14 with nine runs scored and eight RBIs in the game.
Cleveland starter Cade Thacker pitched five innings – the game was stopped after six due to the TSSAA run-rule – and gave up seven hits and five runs while striking out four.
Reliever Trevor Ramsey worked the sixth and gave up two hits without a run and struck out two.
“I’m blessed to have two guys on my staff who know a lot about pitching,” Scoggins said, referring to former head coach Teddy Carson and Danny Carson. “They’re on top of that. I thought Cade did a great job on the mound, but he got tired toward the end.
“Ramsey came in for that last inning and had some adversity by giving up a couple of hits, but got out of it without giving up any runs.”
Turner walked and scored in Cleveland’s first inning. He drove in a fourth-inning run with a single to right-center field and Sills singled to left in the fifth and came home on Christian’s groundout.
Silverdale (11-7) first baseman Blake Howard went 2 for 3 with a solo home run in the fourth and two-run single in a three-run fifth. Tyler Mossburg and Dylan Bryant each had two hits.
Bryant singled – the first hit off Lovell – in the fourth and came home on Hayden Spencer’s double to right. Howard’s two-run single to left-center came in the fifth and Alex Gonzalez had a run-scoring double in the same inning.
Boxscore
Cleveland 10(11) 112 – 16 13 2
Silverdale Baptist 001 130 – 6 5 4
Thacker, Ramsey (6) and Christian; Lovell, Junkins (3). Cook (3), Mossburg (6) and Bryant.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)