ATHENS, Tenn. — For the second straight week, Maryville College signee Titus Torbett vanquish a District 5-4A opponent with a complete-game shutout, leading Walker Valley past McMinn County evening.
The big senior southpaw fanned 11 Cherokee hitters and scattered a half dozen hits in the seven-inning 7-0 shutout performance. He also helped his own cause at the dish, going 2-for-2.
"We talk about competing a lot in our program, and (Torbett) is the ultimate competitor," Mustang head coach Wes Anderson said.
"He's having a heck of a year and he's just very impressive on the mound.
It doesn't matter what situation he's in - he's going to compete his butt off," Coach Anderson said.
The teams will lock horns again Tuesday evening, at Mike Turner Field, and Thursday back in Athens, with Walker Valley (13-13, 4-3) needing just a split of the final two games with McMinn (13-7. 4-3) to secure the No. 2 seed in the upcoming district tournament.
MUSTANGS 7, CHEROKEES 0: Coach Anderson admitted Walker Valley has struggled at the plate this season, but you wouldn't know it from Monday's game.
Torbett singled in the game's opening at bat to help himself out, but was stranded at second. In the bottom half, Torbett sat down the Cherokees in order.
Walker Valley opened the scoring with a three-spot in the second on a McMinn error, Hayden Harrison steal-of-home and Owen Sneed RBI single.
Torbett struck out the side in the bottom half to turn it back over to the Mustang bats, who once again plated three in the third to double the lead.
Harrison singled to score a run, Cooper Cantrell drew a bases loaded walk and then Satchel Cole had a sacrifice fly to plate those three runs.
The Mustang bats cooled a bit the rest of the game, scoring one more run on a fielder's choice in the fourth, but Torbett did the job on the mound once again to shutout the Cherokees the rest of the way.
Joining Torbett offensively was Harrison with two "ribbies" and a hit, while Micah Stone, Milligan signee Michael Pledge and Brody Ownby came away with a hit apiece.
"We've struggled a bit at the plate this year, we really have. We've got to be able to do the small ball stuff and move the baseball to run a little bit. Tonight, the difference was somebody would come up with a big hit," said Coach Anderson.
GAME SUMMARY
District 5-4A
Monday, April 14
at McMinn County
Walker Valley 033 100 0 — 7 6 0
Cleveland 000 000 0 — 0 6 3
WP: Titus Torbett 7 IP, 11 Ks, 3 BB, 6 hits, 0 ER. LP: Marshall Goodner 3 IP, 2 Ks, 2 BB, 4 hits, 1 ER. RBI: Harrison 2, Cantrell, Cole. RECORDS: Walker Valley 13-13, 4-3 District 5-4A; McMinn County 13-7, 4-3 District 5-4A.