Signal Mountain first baseman Seth Wicker leaps avoid a sliding Hudson Chastain of Christian Academy of Knoxville on Tuesday in a TSSAA Class 2A state baseball tournament game at Blackman High School. CAK won 10-2.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Christian Academy of Knoxville, which won 19 of 20 games coming into the TSSAA Class 2A state baseball tournament.
It didn’t take the Warriors long to take the starch out of Signal Mountain on Tuesday.
CAK (36-5) scored the game’s first eight runs and cruised to a 10-2 victory over the Eagles at Blackman High School.
The Warriors move on to play Spring Hill on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.
CT. Spring Hill beat Lexington 5-2. The Eagles and Lexington play Wednesday at 10 a.m.
The disappointing loss spoiled Signal Mountain’s state tournament debut.
“CAK did a good job of taking advantage of our mistakes,” Eagles coach Josh Gandy said. “You can’t make mistakes (four errors) like that and beat anybody, especially a good team like CAK.”
The Warriors got to Eagles starter Ryan Sekenski for three runs in the first inning. Alex Osborne had a RBI single and Garrett Breeden slapped a two-run hit to right.
In the second, CAK pushed the lead to 6-0 on Hudson Chastain’s run-scoring hit and a two-run shot by Osborne.
The Warriors scored twice on balks and the Eagles committed four combined errors in the third and fourth innings, two each by shortstop Drew Lowry and third baseman Grant Galbraith.
“That’s uncharacteristic of both those guys,” Gandy said. “The team played like it was our first time over here and we kicked it around a little.”
CAK added a run in the sixth on Conner Quinn’s groundout and another in the seventh on Chastain’s sacrifice fly.
Meanwhile, CAK starter Spencer Strider was in a groove from the get-go and handcuffed the Eagles (29-10) until the fourth inning.
Strider retired the first nine batters before hitting Alex Woollums starting the fourth. Woollums went to second on a groundout, to third on Galbraith’s infield hit that broke up a no-hit bid and scored on Samuel Wicker’s single to left.
“(Strider) filled the zone up with strikes,” Galbraith said. “He hit his spots and knew where every pitch was going and used the same motion during the game. He’s a solid pitcher.
“I was a little nervous before the game; my mouth was dry and they put us in a tough spot with the early runs.”
Strider struck out six before giving way to reliever Lucas Sykes starting the fifth. Foster Wood smacked two-out triple to center field and scored when Sykes balked, the third such call in the game.
“Our pitching is intact and that’s good,” Gandy said. “Our kids didn’t roll over and that’s a couple of things we can build on.”
LINESCORE
Christian Academy 331 101 1 – 10 10 0
Signal Mountain 000 110 0 – 2 5 4
Strider, Sykes (5) and Gee; Sekenski, Wood (5) and Hensley.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Right-handed pitcher Spencer Strider of CAK checked Signal Mountain on five hits and two runs Tuesday in their state tournament game. Strider was given a quick 6-0 lead after two innings and finished with six strikeouts before giving way to reliever Lucas Sykes in the fifth inning.
photo by Dennis Norwood