With left-handed ace Ryan Moore on the mound, host McCallie carried high hopes into its high school baseball game Tuesday afternoon against Knoxville Farragut, the nation's No. 6-ranked team by Baseball America.
Moore, however, didn't get much support defensively and Farragut left town with a 9-2 victory, improving its overall record to 36-1. The Admirals' only loss came to Germantown during the Scenic City Classic recently at McCallie.
"We didn't play defense behind Ryan and he tried to do more than he can,'' McCallie coach Chris Richardson said. "He ended up getting the ball up.
"If we had made more plays in the field, this would have been a very competitive game. But we've struggled defensively the last few games. We have to get over that. We just can't continue making that many mistakes.''
McCallie finished with six errors, three coming in the first inning when Farragut took a 1-0 lead. The Admirals seemed to take advantage of every McCallie miscue.
"That's why they are who they are,'' Richardson said. "They don't beat themselves and they take advantage of your mistakes. They are a very good team.''
The highlight of the afternoon for McCallie (18-12) came in the bottom of the second inning when the Blue Tornado took a 2-1 lead. Tanner Moore hit a one-out double and Ryan Moore followed with an RBI single. Danny Lawrence then came through with a two-out RBI single.
The fun ended quickly for McCallie as Farragut scored five runs off Ryan Moore in the top of the second. Riley Jennings started things with a one-out walk, and Parker Woodroof followed with a two-run home run. Before the inning was over, McCallie had committed two more errors for five in two innings.
Farragut took a 7-2 lead in the top of the third when Woodroof doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored when Moore balked.
Tripp North came in for Moore in the top of the fourth and pitched the rest of the game, giving up two runs in the sixth when Harrison Eldridge doubled and Michael McKenry followed with a home run.
"Ryan struggled a little with his command and we produced runs when we need to,'' Farragut coach Tommy Pharr said. "We have some disciplined guys, we're a junior-senior dominated team. We made Ryan throw a lot of pitches. We did a good job today.''
Said Richardson, "I thought Tripp pitched well, but we made plays behind him. We didn't do that for Ryan.''
Farragut has already clinched the top seeding for the District 4-AAA Tournament that begins Friday in Knoxville.
"We just hope to get a chance to win the state,'' said Pharr, whose club finished second last year. "But in baseball you are one game from being eliminated. We'd just like to get to Memphis for the Spring Fling.''
Farragut Kyle Waldrop, Pharr's No. 2 pitcher, gave up eight hits and struck out four. His teammates made only one error behind him.
"Defensively we're pretty solid,'' Pharr said. "We have some lapses occasionally.
"Kyle did a good job today. He's 6-0 and throwing the ball well right now.''
Nobody had more than one hit for McCallie, with Tanner Moore and Jeremy Bradford hitting doubles.
McKenry, Farragut's designated-hitter, had a home run, double, single and three RBI. Woodruff added his home run and double and Waldrop contributed two singles.
"Farragut is just a disciplined, well-coached team,'' Richardson said. "Coach Pharr does a good job, as good as anybody. I hope they win the state. He is a class act who runs a great program.''
LINESCORE
Farragut ………151 002 0 -- 9 9 1
McCallie………200 000 0 -- 2 8 6
Kyle Waldrop and Scott Dean; Ryan Moore, Tripp North (4) and Matt Olingy.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)