Cleveland's Robert Flowers avoids the attempted tag by East Hamilton catcher Will Campbell to score a fifth-inning run to give the Blue Raiders a 4-2 lead in the District 5-3A baseball tournament game at Bradley Central. Flowers was running for Ryan Lee, who was hit by a pitch. Cleveland won, 5-2.
photo by Dennis Norwood
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – In a game that saw each team get numerous scoring opportunities, Cleveland’s Blue Raiders made more of theirs than East Hamilton’s Hurricanes.
Cleveland, the No. 5 seed which beat McMinn County 1-0 in 12 innings on Wednesday, scored single runs in five different innings on Thursday and held off East Hamilton, 5-2, in the District 5-3A baseball tournament at the Toby McKenzie Baseball Complex on the Bradley Central High School campus in front of a crowd that nearly filled both stands.
“If you had told me (Camden) Sewell was going to pitch two innings and come out, knowing their number two and three guys threw last night and went to pitch limits and we had to beat guys that come after their two and three, I would have definitely liked our chances,” East Hamilton coach Steve Garland said. “It just wasn’t our night.”
The Blue Raiders (16-16) advanced to Friday’s best-of-three semifinal series against No. 1 Bradley Central (19-11) at 5 p.m. Second-seeded Walker Valley (15-9) takes on No. 3 Soddy-Daisy (19-12) in the other best-of-three opener at 8 p.m.
East Hamilton finished the season at 12-21, but the Hurricane baseball family received good news shortly after the game ended when Tom Losh got a message saying his 19-month-old grandson, Drew Thornburg, had been released from the hospital. The youngster was struck in the chest by a line drive foul ball during East Hamilton’s 7-3 win over Ooltewah on Wednesday.
“I just got the text and little Drew was released from the hospital just now,” Losh said to just about anybody that was nearby. “We’re very blessed.”
Sewell, one of the area’s top pitchers who drew a scout from the Kansas City Royals to Thursday’s game, hadn’t been on the mound since the Ooltewah series in late March. He gave up a one-out hit in the first, but struck out Grayson Stewart and Noah Pridmore.
With one out in the second, East Hamilton sandwiched two walks around Isaac Moulds’ single to load the bases. Sewell fanned Conner Thornburg and retired Will Campbell on an infield grounder.
“We got the OK for him to come back,” Cleveland coach Preston Scoggins said of Sewell, a University of Tennessee signee. “Trainers and doctors cleared him to do his thing and tonight was a great opportunity to put him back on the mound.”
Sewell was on a strict pitch count of 50 to 55 and hit 45 – 27 for strikes – when he gave way to reliever Landen Beaty starting the third.
Beaty yielded a run in the third on a wild pitch and escaped a bases-loaded jam by inducing Conner Thornburg to ground out to short. In the fifth, the Canes touched Beaty for three straight singles, the last by Blaine Savage that drove in a run.
Kley McGowan pitched the sixth, in which he played Houdini to get out of a bases-loaded jam and retired the Canes in order in the seventh.;
East Hamilton stranded 12 baserunners.
“A lot of credit goes to Cleveland’s bullpen and the plan they had tonight,” Garland said. “We got away from our approaches at the plate. Coach Scoggins and pitching coach Dustin McPherson came up with a good plan. While their relievers weren’t overpowering, they mixed things up, threw strikes, competed and that was the story.”
Cleveland scored in the first inning when Sewell, who also plays first base, walked and courtesy runner, Will Hentz, later scored on Clark Lockerby’s double down the line in right field.
Alex Ventura started the second by drawing a walk from East Hamilton starter Chuck Bronson. Ventura moved to second on a wild pitch. Ventura was caught in a rundown but escaped safely to third on an error by shortstop Savage, who dropped a throw. All-District 5-3A outfielder Kellye Cawood’s sacrifice fly pushed Cleveland’s lead to 2-0.
In the third, East Hamilton, which left the bases loaded in the second, got a run when Noah Pridmore walked, went to second on the first of three hit batsmen and scored on a wild pitch. Grayson Stewart was thrown out at the plate trying to score in the inning and once again the Canes stranded three runners.
Beaty doubled in the fourth, went to third on a groundout and came home on Bryce Witt’s two-out single up the middle and that pushed the lead to 3-1.
East Hamilton trimmed Cleveland’s lead in the fifth as Isaac Moulds singled and later scored on Savage’s single, the third hit of the inning. Logan Kenney also singled, but was thrown out trying for third by Cleveland catcher Ryan Lee.
Cleveland got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Lee was hit by a pitch – the teams combined for seven hit batsmen, with East Hamilton batters being plunked six times – and courtesy runner Jonathan Flowers scored on a fielder’s choice, by high-stepping catcher Will Campbell’s attempted tag. East Hamilton players, coaches and fans vociferously bemoaned the call.
Cleveland’s final run came in the sixth inning. Hayden Tinsley turned a single to left into a hustle-double and went to third on Witt’s bunt single. Cawood grounded to third baseman Jared Price, who threw home to nail Tinsley while taking a hard block by Campbell. Witt, who moved to third on that play, scored on Sewell’s infield grounder.
Now things get significantly tougher for the Blue Raiders with Friday’s assignment against their bitter crosstown rivals, which swept the regular-season series by scores of 6-4 and 11-0.
“Bradley is a solid baseball team and they’ve been playing great baseball,” Scoggins said. “It’s going to be a dogfight, but what more can you ask for a District 5-3A semifinal than Bradley and Cleveland. It’s what a lot of people in this town look for, especially the ones that wear black and gold and read and blue. It’s going to be an exciting series.”
Scoggins wouldn’t rule out using Sewell’s next rehab appearance in relief in the upcoming series.
“Who knows?” he said. “Every situation is different.”
East Hamilton can only close up shop.
“We have a good bunch of kids, but we came up way below the standards this program has set,” Garland said. “We’re a young team and our intentions are to get back to where we want to be.”
Linescore
East Hamilton 001 010 0 – 2 6 1
Cleveland 110 111 x – 5 9 0
Bronson, Stewart (5) and Campbell; Sewell, Beaty (3), McGowan (6) and Lee.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
East Hamilton starting pitcher Chuck Bronson prepares to deliver a pitch against Cleveland in the District 5-3A baseball tournament at Bradley Central on Thursday. A 5-2 win advanced the Blue Raiders into a semifinal best-of-three series against bitter rival Bradley starting Friday at 5 p.m.
photo by Dennis Norwood