Everyone knew what McMinn County had coming into Monday night’s District 5AAA title bout against Bradley. The Cherokees were armed and dangerous with head coach David Ray having his choice among the four horsemen who had carried the pitching load to choose.
With all four of his DI pitchers ready and available thanks to Ray’s strategic handling of the staff, the Bears were guaranteed to see quality, and Cherokee starter Ollie Akens and staff ace Andrew Ronne delivered as advertised.
And while the household names were good, it was the Bears little known duet of Gavin Burnette and Jasper Flowers who wound up riding to the rescue.
Neither Bradley pitcher had seen action in a district game – roles Cooper Casteel and Ashton Simmons had shouldered as the Bears won the regular season title. But postseason is a stage too big for just two pitchers, and with both Bradley aces spent to secure the title berth, head coach Travis Adams turned to Burnette and Flowers on the biggest stage so far.
Burnette went five and two-thirds inning, leaving after allowing only his fifth hit, and Flowers retired the final 14 batters he faced in five and third innings before the Bears finally pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning to hand Adams his fifth title in his 14th season at the helm.
“Very few of these kids have much experience because of last year’s lost season. I mean not even watching from the bench type experience, so for those two guys to step in and deliver like they did was phenomenal. They gave us a chance, and we finally got a break to take advantage of and did it. If you had told me when we were 5-10 on the season that we would be here tonight, I’m not sure I would have believed it, but that’s a credit to the kids. They turned it around,” said Adams.
The Bears won 16 of their final 17 games, including the title tilt, and will now host the loser of Tuesday night’s Warren County versus Cookeville game in next Monday’s Region 3AAA semifinals. McMinn County will travel to the 6AAA champ.
The Cherokees seemingly had a decided advantage on the mound with MTSU-commit Akens getting the nod, and when the Cherokees put together a two-out rally in the first to push across a run as Burnette was getting his feet under him, things looked good for McMinn County. After two one-pitch outs to start, Will Harris reached on a swinging bunt to third and Hayden Frank drew a walk. Sam Goodin then delivered a two-out single to left to make it 1-0.
But Bradley showed from the get-go it wasn’t backing down. Akens, who needed just 75 pitches on Friday in a complete-game win against Cleveland, was greeted with a missile by leadoff hitter Dakota Peace for a double. A sac bunt and Casteel’s swinging bunt tied it at 1-all before Daniel Cox launched a two-run homer to deep left center for a 3-1 lead.
“The homer really settled me down. I knew every run was going to be a premium, and having the lead made it easier to just go out and throw strikes. I wasn’t nervous because I knew we already had a region berth sewed up, but I wanted to do my part too,” said Burnette.
The Cherokees got one of the runs back partly because Burnette was so nasty. He struck out Ronne with a ball in the dirt that went to the backstop and allowed him to reach. After a stolen base and a ground out got him to third, Andrew Beavers singled to right to score him.
The Bears got it right back, though, thanks to some good base running by Alex Brew, who had reached on a fielder’s choice. A pop fly just off the glove of the second baseman left him limbo, but he hustled to beat the relay throw to second. A slow roller to third was just slow enough for Brew to beat the force out there and Simmon’s grounder made it 4-2 Bears.
It stayed that way until the fifth when Will Grimmett bunted for a hit and scampered to second on a bad throw. Another sac bunt moved him to third before Frank walked again. A safety squeeze by Goodin was perfect and Frank took third and later home on two wild pitches to tie it at 4-4.
Again the Bears responded in the bottom of the sixth. Iverson Vasquez singled to right and took second on a wild pitch. A sac bunt by Brew was followed by a passed ball to score the go-ahead run and leave Bradley within three outs of the win.
Then things got interesting. Another swinging bunt hit by Will Harris and a throw away on the attempt put the tying run on second. A wild pitch moved Harris up 90 feet and Goodin was good in the clutch again, lifting a soft liner over a drawn-in infield to send it to extras.
Ronne relieved for the Cherokees and retired 12 hitters in a row over the next four innings, allowing just a hit that was quickly erased by a 6-4-3 double play. Flowers was up to the task, though, as he didn’t allow a runner after Goodin’s soft liner in the seventh, striking out eight, including the side in the top of the 11th.
“I told Gavin in the dugout that I had his back if I was needed. We had a nice pep talk, and when I got the call, I just went out there and did my job. I’m not a flamethrower like their guys are, but I was going to pound locations and put them away with my best pitch, a 12-6 curve. It felt really good to be out there,” said Flowers.
The Bears finally got a runner on in the bottom of the 11th against Ronne when Cox’s grounder was misplayed at second. Aiden McClary attempted to bunt him over into scoring position, and Ronne fielded it and was high on his throw trying to get the out at second. The ball sailed into center and the runners advanced to second and third with no outs. Ethan Lamberth was intentionally walked and the infield brought in with Vasquez at the plate.
“I had a good at-bat against (Ronne) him in the ninth, so that gave me some confidence. I was going to hit the ball somewhere, and got just enough of it to do the job. We really wanted a home game in the region,” said Vasquez, who delivered a grounder the third baseman dove for and gloved, but couldn’t make a play for the walk off.
McMinn wound up with seven hits, including two by Goodin who had three RBI and two from Beavers. Akens struck out six in six innings while Ronne whiffed five more over the final five innings, allowing just two hits.
Peace had three hits for the Bears as Burnette struck out four to go along with Flowers six Ks.
“It was just a great high school baseball game. There were guys on both sides competing, stepping up, getting clutch hits and making clutch pitches. We dodged some bullets and when we got the chance, we capitalized,” added Adams.
The Bears are now 21-11 while McMinn falls to 17-11-1.
MCMINN CO 110 020`000 00 – 5 7 2
BRADLEY 310 000 100 00 – 6 9 4
Akens, Ronne (7) and Mason; Burnette, Flowers (6) and Lamberth.
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)