CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Three times Jordan Gorman set the table.
Nick Woods punched three hits to the outfield and drove Gorman home in the third, fifth and sixth innings, powering East Hamilton to a 9-1 victory over McMinn County in the opening game of the District 5-3A baseball tournament at Cleveland High School on Wednesday.
“Our mission was to win this game,” Gorman said, standing in the rain just outside the jubilant East Hamilton dugout, “and that’s what we did. We were worried about this game, nothing else. Just tonight’s opponent.”
The game was delayed twice by rain, the first time for 1 hour and 50 minutes in the bottom of the fourth inning. The second time was for just five minutes with McMinn County batting in the top of the seventh.
During the first delay, the two teams had a lot of fun staging a “virtual military battle on the field,” entertaining the fans for several minutes.
“We preach and preach about having fun and we let them have some fun out there during the long delay,” Hurricanes coach Steve Garland said.
Wednesday’s scheduled second game pitting sixth-seed Cleveland and No. 5 Walker Valley was postponed until Thursday at 7 p.m.
On Friday at 7 p.m. No. 4 East Hamilton will play the Walker Valley-Cleveland winner for the right to advance to a best-of-three series with No. 1 Bradley Central at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Second-seeded Soddy-Daisy plays No. 3 Ooltewah in another best-of-three series opener at 4 p.m.
Woods went 3 for 4 and drove in four runs, two with a double in a five-run sixth inning.
Gorman was 3 for 3 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
“That’s happened since mid-season,” Garland said. “We came back from the Riverdale Warrior Classic and were 5-10. We regrouped and we’re 14-4 since then and a big part of that has been one-through-six in the (batting) order.
“Tonight was a must-win and in that situation somebody has to step up.”
Gorman, the Hurricanes’ leadoff batter, doubled in the third, singled in the fifth and walked in the sixth.
Woods, the shortstop who is committed to Tennessee, ripped a single to left field to score Gorman in the third. Earlier, Gorman doubled home Jacob Howard, who reached on one of three Cherokees errors, to tie the game at 1.
After Gorman’s hit in the third, Brandon DelValle singled to right. Woods beat out an infield hit to score Gorman and DelValle came home on the second error by third baseman Ethan Belcher.
In the sixth, Gorman and DelValle drew two-out walks and scored on Woods’ laser-shot double over center-fielder Drew Phillips’ head to cap the fourth-seeded Hurricanes’ scoring for the night.
“In the past few weeks teams have gotten (Gorman) out like twice,” said Woods, who still hasn’t pitched this season due to a shoulder injury – he expects to be “cleared” to pitch in about a week. “Jordan has been very productive and I’ve started seeing the ball better in the past month.”
Said Gorman, “Tonight was a good experience and a lot of fun. When I get on base I know Nick get me in to score.”
Also in the sixth when the second wave of heavy rain struck – in between the downpours, a rainbow appeared over the right-field fence, bursting out of ominous clouds on the horizon – off-the-mark relief pitching cost the Cherokees (12-17) dearly.
Garrett Owen drew a one-out walk and Tyler Blum’s bunt single sent him to second. Pinch-hitter Logan Kenney reached on the Tribe’s third error and Gorman’s walk scored Blake Aldredge, who was running for Owen.
Blum came home on DelValle’s bases-loaded walk and Kenney scored on Garrett Stone’s sacrifice fly, a pop-out to first baseman Roman Lockmiller in foul territory.
The only run McMinn County managed off right-hander Matt Watters, the staff ace in Woods’ absence from the mound, came in the third inning when Phillips walked, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Hayden Fesmire’s single to center.
Fesmire had two of the Cherokees’ five hits – he doubled with two out in the first, but was stranded when Cooper Roberts grounded out to DelValle at second base.
Watters struck out five and walked four, overcoming the two delays to turn in another strong mound performance.
“I’m real proud of Matt, especially with the delays,” Garland said. “He has assumed the role as staff ace and I couldn’t be more proud of the way he has shown maturity and competitiveness.”
In 2015, East Hamilton launched a postseason drive that saw it beat Soddy-Daisy for the district tournament title, lost to the Trojans in the Region 3-3A title game, beat Columbia in the sectional and then lose to Farragut and Ravenwood in the state tournament.
The Hurricanes would like to repeat that deep postseason run.
“It was fun last year to know we could do it,” Woods said. “We’re still a pretty new school and never had the opportunity to do that. We’ve got some experience under our belts now and some guys back this year can say they’ve done it before. It’s cool to have another chance to do it again.”
Boxscore
McMinn County 001 000 0 – 1 5 3
East Hamilton 002 025 x – 9 9 0
Bright, Curtis (6), Derrick (6) and Rollins, Edgemon (6); Watters and Owen.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)