Shutout and with one inning left to do something about it, Boyd-Buchanan scored five runs in the seventh to beat Meigs County, 5-4, Thursday night in non-district baseball action in Decatur.
The win stretched the Bucs’ winning streak to eight games and set up Friday’s diamond showdown against Calhoun (Ga.) at AT&T Field, home of the Chattanooga Lookouts. Game time is 7:15 p.m. and gates open at 6 p.m.
Meigs County had just gone ahead 4-0 – none of the runs were earned – with a sixth-inning rally and Boyd-Buchanan had three outs to get back in the game.
Josh Antwine singled to start the Bucs’ seventh-inning comeback against Tigers reliever Dustin Kenney. Hits by John Sewell and Jim Cardwell loaded the bases. Cade Evans ripped a two-run single to center.
Nathan Murrell’s sacrifice fly to center pulled the Bucs (13-8) to within 4-3. Colby Morgan singled and E.J. Matthews was hit by a pitch to load the bases again.
Skyler Anderson, who was 3-for-3, tied the game with a sacrifice fly and Hunter Payne, whose error in the sixth started the Tigers’ big inning, singled to right and courtesy runner Garet Baker with the go-ahead run.
Brandon Willingham, the Bucs’ starter, gave up a single to Jake Moon opening the Tigers’ seventh and was relieved by left-hander John Sewell.
On Sewell’s second pitch, he induced an infielder grounder that was turned into a 5-4-3 double play. After giving up another single, Sewell got the final out on a fly ball to center.
Calhoun is 14-3 after a 7-6 loss to Armuchee on Thursday. The Yellow Jackets lead Region 7-AA with a 6-2 league mark.
The Yellow Jackets have reached the state playoffs every year since at least 2005 when they won a state championship with a 34-1 record.
Calhoun also won state titles in 1974, 2000 and 2010. In 2010, the Yellow Jackets won their first 33 games before losing to Cook in the first round of the playoffs. They swept the next two games in a three-game series and rolled to the championship, finishing 35-1.
Coach Chip Henderson’s Yellow Jackets lost to Holy Innocents in the 2007 state title series.
The Bucs finished second runner-up to Decatur County Riverside in the 2010 Class A state playoffs.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com)