MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Boyd Buchanan Buccaneers had an outstanding baseball season – perhaps better than any In previous school history –but it didn’t end the way they had hoped.
Boyd Buchanan entered the Division II-A state baseball tournament here at Middle Tennessee Christian School on Tuesday with the best record in the tournament, but were sent to the losers bracket with a tough loss to Goodpasture.
They had to play the Providence Academy Knights first thing on Wednesday morning to avoid elimination, but it wasn’t meant to be as the Bucs fell by a 4-3 final in eight innings.
Boyd Buchanan coach Stephen Pryor knows enough about baseball to know that the best team doesn’t always win, but the one who executes in tough situations.
“We were in it the whole time, but I just think we didn’t have enough in the tank to finish today,” Pryor said after his team’s season ended with 33 wins and seven losses.
“That’s baseball. We battled the entire time and needed some guys to step up late and it just didn’t happen,” he added.
Providence coach Jeff Reed knows the feeling after his team lost to Columbia Academy in a similar game on Tuesday night.
“It’s never easy to win at this level, but we lost the very same way in eight innings last night,” he began after his team improved to 27-12.
“I thought we showed a lot of grit today, but we still have to win again later today if we want to play for a state title tomorrow,” he nodded.
Boyd Buchanan trailed three times in Wednesday’s game. They were able to battle back the first two times, but the third time wasn’t the charm as the Knights advanced when relief pitcher Nathan Eisfelder retired the side in order in the eighth.
Josh Owens singled with one out in the first and scored on a double by Eisfelder to give the Knights the early 1-0 lead.
The Bucs answered in the second when Xavier Embry singled with one out and scored on a double down the line in left by Aaron Hise.
The game stayed tied at 1-1 through five innings before Providence took the lead with two in the sixth.
Aidan Sproles and Merritt Runnels both singled and scored, courtesy runner Port Conger scoring the first run on a single to center by Grant Gentry. The hit was misplayed, allowing the Knights to score a second run in the inning.
The Bucs rallied with two outs in the sixth, Brodie Johnston getting a walk before scoring on a single by Embry.
With their backs to the wall in the bottom of the seventh, still trailing by a run, the Bucs evened the score when Brodie Lowe doubled with one out and later scored on a single by Johnston. Cooper Jones then reached on an infield single to load the bases, but nothing else happened as Eli Gardenhire flied to left to end the inning.
Runnels led off the Providence eighth with a single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gentry. Drew Niebauer was walked intentionally and Josh Owens hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out, setting the stage for a sacrifice fly to left by Eisfelder to drive in Runnels with what turned out to be the winning run.
The Bucs had one last chance in the bottom of the eighth, but Embry popped to first for the first out, Hise lined to short for the second before Jonathan Tinker grounded to second to end the game.
Sproles was the starter for the Knights, but didn’t get the decision after being relieved by Eisfelder with two outs in the sixth. Read Butler was the loser for the Bucs after allowing all four runs on 11 hits in 7.1 innings.
Eisfelder had three hits to lead the Knights while teammates Rinaldo Matti and Runnels both had two.
Cooper Jones and Embry both had two hits to lead the Bucs.
PROVIDENCE 100 002 01 – 4 11 0
BOYD BUCHANAN 010 001 10 – 3 9 1
Sproles, Eisfelder (6) and Bowman; Butler, Johnston (8) and Hise.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)