MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – McCallie played like it had been to a state baseball tournament before.
The Blue Tornado (26-8), opening defense of their 2014 championship, twice answered Briarcrest (21-11) scores Tuesday night and rode the strong pitching of Carson McKoon to a 4-2 victory in the TSSAA Spring Fling Division II-AA state baseball tournament at Wilson Central High.
“Carson was the story of the game,” McCallie coach Greg Payne. “Basically, he’s been on an upward ramp all year as far as his performance.
He wasn’t a region pitcher for us early, but we moved him into the rotation about the third game and he’s continued to get better and better.
“And he peaked today. It was fun to watch. He loves baseball and he loves McCallie. You really pull for a kid like him.”
McKoon worked 6 1/3 innings, struck out 12, gave up four hits, walked one and allowed just one earned run. Corbin Brooksbank came on in relief and got a strikeout with the bases loaded in the seventh to pick up a save.
Drew Vaughn had two doubles to pace McCallie’s seven-hit attack.
The Blue Tornado play Christian Brothers on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., with that winner advancing to the state title game at Middle Tennessee State University. Christian Brothers beat Pope John Paul, the team which ended Baylor’s season on Sunday, 1-0.
Brock Ellis gave Briarcrest (21-11) a quick lead with a solo homer in the first, but McCallie answered when Matt Brock answered with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning.
Ellis punched a run-scoring single to left-center in the third.
However, McCallie (26-8) got a leadoff double from Drew Vaughn, but failed to score.
“We did some fundamental things poorly and jacked the team up a little,” Payne said. “We scored three in the third.
Tyler Payne reached on an error and Corbin Brooksbanks singled. Ethan Cady and Brock each followed with groundouts that pushed across two runs and Vaughn followed with a run-scoring double.
‘It helped that we’ve been here before,” Payne said. “I don’t think we were awed by the moment. Somebody hits a home run off you in the first can be unsettling. Carson kept his composure and we came right back and scored in the bottom of the inning. Getting an answer like that was key.
“You’ve got to win the first game in this tournament. If you lose, you’ve got to win four games in a row to be champion and that’s brutal. That’s four games in two days.”
Christian Brothers goes into the game against McCallie with a 33-8 record.
“We’re playing OK, but it could be better,” Payne said. “We have to be better (Wednesday). Christian Brothers has a lot of good talent and they’re well-coached. We have to be at our best.”
LINESCORE
Briarcrest 101 000 0 – 2 4 2
McCallie 103 000 x – 4 7 1
Ince and Dillard; McKoon, Brooksbank (7) and Quinn.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)