Buffs Slam Rebels, Force If Necessary Game

MOSHEIM — Bunt, bunt, bunt, grand slam!

Just the way West Greene coach Adrian Sauceman planned it, right?

No, not really, but that’s what happened, and the end result was an eight-run rally in the sixth inning that lifted the Buffaloes from a 2-1 deficit to a 9-5 victory over county rival South Greene in the District 1-2A baseball tournament championship round played Sunday afternoon at West Greene’s Hal “Buddy” Pruitt Field.

But West Greene’s win didn’t end it. The two teams were to play again Monday, this time at South Greene as the Rebels are the No. 1-seeded team in the tourney, to determine the championship. The Sunday loss by the Rebs was their first in the tourney, and the two squads had to play the “if necessary” game to see who could claim the crown.

Monday’s result was not available at press time.

In the early game Sunday, West Greene eliminated Chuckey-Doak in a 3-2 thriller to move to the championship round and earn a berth in the Region 1 tournament, which begins Friday with the winner of Monday’s showdown being host while the loser must go on the road to the District 2 champ.

“In the 52 years of baseball here at West Greene, we’ve never won a district championship in baseball,” Sauceman said. “That’s our goal. We played two great games today and I couldn’t be more proud of how our guys competed. I said earlier this week that our pitching could be the key to how we do in this tournament, and it carried us again today.”

It looked bleak for the Buffs through five innings. The Rebs’ Graydon Rader gave up a first inning run to the Buffs, then settled down to keep them scoreless over the next four frames. Meanwhile, the Rebel offense came through with a pair of walks and a two-run double from Dustin Crum to take a 2-1 advantage after three innings.

Judson Higgins went the distance on the mound for West Greene, scattering five hits, three of them coming in the seventh frame after the Buffs had already grabbed the 9-2 advantage.

West Greene really got their offense untracked in the sixth against South Greene, using four bunts and a grand slam home run by Mason McCamey to overtake the Rebs and jump into a healthy lead.

“We’ve not bunted the ball well all year, but we did today,” he smiled. “We put some pressure on them with those bunts. We got the 5-2 lead, then Mason hit the grand slam and that really gave us some breathing room.”

The big sixth inning rally started with a base hit by Braden McCamey followed by a walk to Maddox Garber. The first bunt was a sacrifice by Aiden Willett that moved the runners to second and third. Ethan Carpenter followed with a perfect squeeze bunt in front of the plate, and things began to unravel for the Rebs when two runs scored as the throw to first was wide of the mark.

Connor Campbell and Kavin Greene followed with base hits, and Higgins knocked in another run when he, you guessed it, bunted. That was followed by another bunt by Jhonen Bath that pitcher Rader couldn’t field when he slipped coming off the mound. That loaded the bases for McCamey, who delivered with a grand slam over the right field fence to clear the sacks.

That would be all the cushion Higgins would need, even though the Rebs never quit and plated three runs in the seventh to close the gap to 9-5. Dustin Crum, who had all five of South Greene’s RBIs, delivered a bases loaded double that brought home all three runners.

Rader gave up nine hits to the Buffs, two each by Higgins, Braden McCamey and Connor Campbell.

South Greene managed just five hits off Higgins, led by Brendan Lisenby with a double and single. Levi Treadway and Pablo Rosario each delivered a double.

West Greene 3 Chuckey-Doak 2

West Greene knocked off Chuckey-Doak for the second time in the tourney and eliminated the No. 2 seed in the day’s opener. The contest was played on Sunday as the threat of rain on Saturday forced postponement, and the weather forecast for the coming week is bleak.

Again, Sauceman credited his pitching staff with coming through in the clutch. Connor Campbell went the distance on the mound and got the win, allowing only one run on eight hits and stranded eight base runners.

“Our No. 3 and No. 4 pitcher really came through today,” Sauceman said. “And they are No. 3 and No. 4 only because our No. 1 and No. 2 have been real studs all year.”

It was quite the pitching duel as it looked for a time as if a 1-0 lead the Knights had manufactured in the second inning might hold up the rest of the way. They got the run when with two outs Gavin Crum singled and stole second, coming around to score on a hit by Ben Palazzo.

Knight pitcher Gavin Crum was sharp, especially in the sixth when West Greene got a lead-off double by Mason McCamey, but he was left stranded there with an easy groundout followed by two straight strikeouts.

But West Greene averted the shutout in the top of the seventh when with one out Campbell slashed a double to left, moved up on a stolen base, and later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Kaven Greene singled to center as did Higgins, and both runners scored when Bath hit a gapper to the fence in left-center to put the Buffs up 3-1.

Closing out the Knights in the home half of the seventh was not easy for Campbell. Crum had a lead-off double and scored on a two-out single by Lynkin Cutshaw. But Campbell retired Christian Derry on an infield grounder to finish it up and move on to the championship.

Derry had three hits to lead the Knights while Dom Atchison had two safeties. Mason McCamey had three hits with a double for West Greene, while Higgins added a pair of hits.

Chuckey-Doak ends its season at 15-12.

FRIDAY’S GAMES South Greene 8 West Greene 5

MOSHEIM — The South Greene Rebels scored six runs – five unearned – in the bottom of the fifth inning to rally past the West Greene Buffaloes in the winners bracket final.

Overall, West Greene committed three errors that led to six unearned runs for South Greene. The Rebels played error free.

West Greene led 4-1 before South Greene pushed across the six runs in the fifth.

Graydon Rader walked to lead off the South Greene fifth. He took second on an error, took third on a wild pitch and scored to pull the Rebels within 4-2 when Colton Fillers doubled to left field. Fillers was thrown out trying to take third on the play.

After South Greene’s Brendan Lisenby grounded out for the second out of the inning, things unraveled for West Greene.

Dustin Crum doubled to center and Colby Brooks reached on an error with Pablo Rosario – running for Crum – moved to third.

Seth Franklin was intentionally walked to load the bases and was run for by Eli Fillers.

Tyler Buckner then worked a walk that forced in Rosario to pull South Greene within 4-3.

Levi Treadway followed with a bases-clearing double to left field, pushing the Rebels to a 6-4 lead.

And Jacob Susong lined a single to center that scored Treadway to make it 7-4.

Crum went the distance on the mound. In seven innings, he gave up nine hits, walked one and struck out eight.

Mason McCamey drew the start on the mound for West Greene and took the loss. In 4 2/3 innings, he gave up six hits, seven runs (one earned), walked five and struck out five.

Brooks went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, Crum was 2-for-3 with a double, Susong was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Treadway had a double and three RBI, and Fillers had a double and an RBI.

West Greene’s Aiden Willett went 2-for-2, Judson Higgins was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Mason McCamey was 2-for-4 with a double, Braden McCamey had a hit and two RBI, Maddox Garber had a double and Bronson Brown had a hit.

Chuckey-Doak 19 Happy Valley 9

MOSHEIM — The Chuckey-Doak Black Knights staved off elimination with the win in the losers bracket on Friday.

Chuckey-Doak’s Colyer Franklin went 2-for-2 with five RBI, Christian Derry homered and had two RBI, Ben Palazzo had a double and four RBI, Dom Atchison and James Seidl each had a hit and an RBI, and Lynkin Cutshaw had a hit.

Chuckey-Doak’s Luke Myers went the distance on the mound. In six innings, he gave up eight hits, nine runs (two earned), walked one and struck out nine.