Knowing the head-to-head mound matchup for Tuesday’s District 5-A baseball tournament title game ahead of time, everybody in the crowd at Boyd-Buchanan got what they anticipated – a pitching duel.
Boyd-Buchanan’s Clayton Parker, a senior, held up his end of the bargain.
So to – with equal effectiveness – did Silverdale Baptist Academy’s Spencer Mossburg, a junior.
In the end, the No.
1 seed Bucs scored two runs on a single and fielder’s choice in the fourth inning and Parker made them stand up for a 2-1 victory that clinched Boyd-Buchanan’s third consecutive Class A district tournament championship.
“It was a good win,” Bucs catcher Reid Smith said. “We haven’t lost one (district title) since I’ve been playing here.”
The Bucs (23-8), ranked No. 3 in the latest Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association poll, advanced to the Region 3 semifinals and will host Whitwell (10-7), the District 6-A runner-up on May 14.
“The first goal is to win your district,” Bucs coach Josh Rider said. “That sets you up for home-field advantage in the next round and puts everything in your favor. From here on out, we’ve got to be ready to play.”
There are no more second chances now. Each game presents a one-and-done situation all the way through the state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Silverdale (18-11) will travel to District 6-A champion South Pittsburg (28-7-1) on Monday.
South Pittsburg, ranked No. 6 in the TBCA poll, has won 12 straight games and beat 13 district opponents, including Whitwell, 5-0, in Tuesday's tournament championship game, by a combined score of 143-17. The Pirates' seniors have won 107 games in their career. South Pittsburg beat Whitwell four times this season, outscoring the Tigers, 36-1.
“South Pittsburg is a good team,” Rider said. “They’ve got good pitching, too, very similar to the two teams that were out here today. And we played Whitwell here during the season and it was close.”
Boyd-Buchanan won that game, 6-5.
The Bucs and Seahawks are solid clubs as well. And the two pitchers that battled throughout Monday’s game can hold their own against anybody around these parts.
“This was a good game if you like great pitching,” Rider said. “I’m thankful our horse was on the mound and we rode him for seven innings. He threw an awesome game.”
Parker, 5-2 with three saves, allowed three hits, struck out 10 and walked two while dropping his ERA to 2.15. He gave up singles to Mason Brown in the first and Mossburg in the third and got tagged for a solo home run by Garrett Howard in the fourth for the Seahawks’ lone run.
“He smashed that ball,” Parker said. “That was a no-doubter.”
Garrett cracked a three-run homer in Silverdale’s 17-0 rout of Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences on Monday to push the Seahawks into the championship game.
Parker, who has signed with the University of Alabama, now has 77 strikeouts in 39 innings, with just 23 walks. He’s given up just 13 hits all season.
The hard-throwing right-hander was a little off with his command early on, but found his curveball and settled into a dominating mode. After Howard’s towering homer to center field, Parker hit Joey Szollosi and then retired nine in a row.
With one out in the seventh and nursing the one-run lead, Parker struck out Silverdale’s Colton Rogers on a nasty curve in the dirt. The ball skipped away from Smith and Rogers beat the throw to first base.
Courtesy runner Cody Thomas went to second on a passed ball. After a pitch to No. 9 hitter Joey Bankston, Smith threw back to Parker on the mound.
Parker, however, was moving one way and the ball went behind him and rolled into center field, putting the potential game-tying run at third base.
“I wasn’t paying attention like I should have been,” Parker said.
Neither were the middle infielders, who failed to stop the ball from reaching the outfield grass while Thomas scampered to third.
“I saw Clayton walking to the other side from where I was throwing and it just kind of slipped out of my hand and it went past him,” Smith said. “Everybody messes up sometimes.”
The late-inning flub didn’t hurt the Bucs, though.
Parker fanned Bankston for the second out. He retired Chase Turner on a game-ending groundout to second baseman Rance Harden, giving the Bucs a four-game sweep of the Seahawks this season.
“Clayton struggled with his curve the first couple of innings and then found it and he started locating it better,” Rider said. “It’s a tough pitch to hit, for sure.”
Mossburg, who also homered and drove in five runs in Monday’s one-sided win at CSAS, bedazzled the Bucs with a knee-buckling curve of his own.
The smooth-throwing right-hander also yielded just three hits, struck out 10 and walked four over six innings. Other than the fourth, Mossburg allowed only four other runners.
“It sure was a pitcher’s duel,” said Mossburg (8-2). “Clayton pitched great. I felt good. In that one inning (the fourth), I struggled with location and walked a couple of guys and those always come back to hurt you.”
Harden and Parker drew back-to-back walks to start the Bucs’ rally.
Austin Bailey followed with a run-scoring single to center, tying the game at 1-1.
Austin Cline drew a walk, but was forced out at second on a Colter Parker, Clayton’s brother, infield grounder. On the play, Josh Antwine, running for Clayton Parker, scored from third with what turned out to be the championship clinching run.
“Spencer is our go-to guy,” Silverdale coach Jonathan Adcock said. “He’s been that way the whole year and pitched great today. It was a tough game, about as solid a game as both teams could play.”
Parker and Mossburg each went over the 100-pitch mark -- Parker threw 110, with 75 strikes, and Mossburg had 116, with 64 strikes.
Silverdale Baptist 000 100 0 – 1 3 3
Boyd-Buchanan 000 200 x – 2 3 0
Mossburg and Turner; Cl.Parker and Smith.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com)