MURFREESBORO, Tenn.
– Cooper Kinney, Tennessee’s just crowned D-II Mr. Baseball, put an exclamation point on Baylor’s third consecutive trip to the state title game Wednesday afternoon as the Red Raiders overcame a valiant effort by hometown rival McCallie to claim a winner’s bracket final 4-1 victory here at Wilson Central High School.
Cooper, a South Carolina signee, broke open a scoreless tie with a booming solo homer in the third inning and added an RBI-double in the fifth to make it 4-0 as Baylor won its eighth straight state tournament game in a quest for a third consecutive state title.
The Red Raiders will get that chance Thursday afternoon in a 2 p.m. (EDT) battle with Briarcrest. The Blue Tornado fell victim to Briarcrest 11-1 in the loser’s bracket final last night to see their season come to a close. Briarcrest will have to win twice against Baylor to unseat the champs.
MTSU-bound Patrick Johnson was the winner for Baylor, twirling a three-hit complete-game outing in an efficient 79-pitch performance. He allowed a pair of meaningless singles before Carter Hewitt touched him for a solo homer in the seventh inning to give the Blues hope. Johnson regrouped, though, and needed just six more pitches to get the final two outs to send the Big Red into the championship. Johnson wound up with six strikeouts.
McCallie starter Grayson Smith pitched well, giving up just six hits, but as usual three of them were extra base knocks to drive in runs. Baylor added a solo run in the fourth after leadoff hitter Nick Kurtz drew a walk and stole second base. Hunter Herndon lined out to center and Kurtz tagged up to move to third before Jonathan Larrera lofted a fly ball to center for the run-scoring sacrifice fly and a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth, Caleb Hampton reached on an error when his pop up was misplayed at first and Danny Corona made it hurt with a triple in the gap to plate the speedy Hampton. Kinney then followed with his RBI-double and it was 4-0.
The Baylor senior class will go for the threepeat and a perfect 9-0 in state tourney games Thursday. The group has compiled a 75-17 record during that stretch and will take a 26-4 mark into the finale.
McCallie had a chance to get one more shot at Baylor, but Briarcrest pounded out 19 hits, scoring nine runs over the final two frames to end it via the run rule. The Blue Tornado managed just two hits in the game, including Frank Zahrobsky’s RBI hit. McCallie ends its year at 21-11 with four of those losses coming at the hands of Baylor.
CLASS AAA: The Clarksville Wildcats scored nine runs over their final three at-bats to bust open a 2-2 tie and eliminate McMinn County from its first ever trip to the state tournament. The two squads went into the fifth knotted at 2-2 before the Wildcats touched Hayden Frank for four hits. A pair of doubles sandwiched a single to score the first run before a balk pushed across a second tally to make it 4-2. A fielding error made it 5-2 before a single pushed it to 6-2. Clarksville added another run in the sixth after a dropped third strike put a runner on to open the frame. A ground out moved him to second before stealing third base and scoring on a wild pitch from reliever Andrew Ronne for a 6-2 margin.
Clarksville put an exclamation point on it in the seventh with four more runs scoring after two outs on three singles and a pair of walks. The Wildcats wound up with 11 hits. Clarksville had taken a 2-0 lead in the first on a walk and a two-run homer, but the Cherokees got both of those runs back in the fourth before things fell apart. Ollie Akens singled to start the inning before Mason Roderick doubled him home. Will Grimmett then plated the tying run on a sac fly after an Andrew Beavers single.
McMinn County finishes its historical season at 20-14-1.
CLASS AA: Signal Mountain’s championship run came to an end as the Eagles couldn’t quite match big innings with Ripley in a 12-7 loss which eliminated them. Signal Mountain put up a monster seven-run third inning, but it wasn’t enough to match the two five spots Ripley recorded in the third and sixth innings.
Down 2-0, the Eagles banged out six hits in the third inning to go with a lone base on balls to score seven runs. Cole Hanners started it with a single before Braden Gasner laced an RBI-double. Hunter Davis, Sam Witherspoon, Logan Farr and Preston Worley hit consecutive run-scoring singles after that and it was 7-2 Signal Mountain.
The Eagles celebration didn’t last long, however, as Ripley followed with five runs in the bottom of the inning to tie it and then did the five run thing again in the sixth as Signal Mountain pitchers walked 11 men, including five in the fateful sixth frame. Davis and Farr each had two hits for Signal Mountain which ended its year at 26-10.
CLASS A: South Pittsburg rebounded from the loser’s bracket with a pair of wins at Stewarts Creek High School to make it into Thursday’s Final Four. The Pirates beat South Fulton 6-5 and then dropped North Greene 5-1 to earn a shot at Moore County, which beat them in the opener on Tuesday. The Pirates will need to beat Moore Co. twice beginning with a 3 p.m. (EDT) game to earn a spot in Friday’s finals.
The Pirates (22-14) had a wild one against South Fulton, scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth to rally for a 6-4 lead and then Austin Jackson gutted it out to get the final out with the tying run on board. Jackson went all seven innings, allowing 10 hits, but induced a pop out with the tying run at second base to keep hope alive for the Pirates.
Kamden Wellington doubled to open the sixth for South Pitt when it was down 4-2. Jared Stone singled to make it 4-3 and Reece Genter tied it with a run-scoring single. Ryan Cagle added an RBI knock and Hunter Powers drew a bases loaded walk to make it 6-4.
In the win over North Greene, the Pirates got a combined two-hitter from starter Conner Rowell and Jackson in relief and pushed across single runs in the first, third and fifth innings before getting two big insurance runs in the sixth to put it away.
Javen Talley had a pair of clutch hits, driving in a run in the first inning when the Pirates left the bases loaded, and singling to score another run in the third. Hunter Powers made it 3-0 with a run-scoring single in the fifth. Jared Stone’s RBI-double and a squeeze bunt single by Brayden Sanders pushed across the other two runs. Rowell allowed just one hit in five innings and Jackson gave up another hit over the final two frames as South Pitt advanced.