Editor’s Note: The District 2-3A tournament is being played May 1-4. However, results of the Thursday and Friday games will not be available in time for the Weekend edition.
GREENEVILLE — Cherokee came out swinging in its District 2-3A baseball tournament opener at Tusculum’s Pioneer Park on Wednesday and walloped Grainger to advance to the winners’ bracket final and move one win away from a return trip to the regional tournament.
The Chiefs scored nine runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to 15-5 win over the Grizzlies in five innings. Cherokee, the No. 2 seed, will face top-seeded Greeneville in the winners’ bracket final on Thursday (May 2) at 7:30 p.m. for a spot in the district championship game and a berth in next week’s Region 1-3A tournament.
Greeneville defeated Volunteer 5-2 in the nightcap to advance. Volunteer, which won the play-in game against Claiborne earlier in the day, falls into the losers’ bracket and will face Grainger in an elimination game on Thursday (May 2) at 5 p.m.
Cherokee’s nine-run burst in the opening stanza started with one out and came on six hits and five walks as the Chiefs batted through the order and then some. Gage Adkins delivered the biggest blow with a three-run double to left centerfield to make it a 5-0 ball game. Cole Putnal also drove in two runs in the inning, getting a favorable hop on a ball hit hard toward the shortstop.
It’s all the run support starter Gavin Housewright would need, but the Chiefs would add four more in the second. A walk and two singles loaded the bases for senior Jacob Brooks, who laced a line drive into right field to clear the bases. Putnal singled in Brooks to make it 13-0 after two.
The defense also showed out for the Chiefs, especially early. Shortstop Clay Wagoner got it started by ranging toward third and then throwing across his body for a tough putout in the first inning. Keaton Lawson then sent the Cherokee faithful into a frenzy with a web gem of a double play to end the top of the second.
“I was pretty excited about that, getting to see all the pieces starting to click in the beginning. We have a tendency to not start clicking until the second or third inning,” Cherokee coach Gus Fraley said. “In the whole grand scheme of things, when we needed a play, the play was made. That double play... when that happened, we had total possession of the momentum of the game.”
Grainger took advantage of a Cherokee error in the third and pushed two runs across and then put a string of hits together to plate three more in the fourth to cut the lead to 13-5.
Pinch hitter Porter Owen put the mercy rule into effect with a walk-off, RBI-single to put the Chiefs up by 10 in the bottom of the fifth.
Gavin Housewright picked up the win for Cherokee. He threw 3 1/3 innings and gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits with one strikeout. Reliever Noah Hunter threw 1 2/3 innings and gave up two runs (none earned) on three hits.
The offensive explosion that enabled the Chiefs to use the mercy rule comes at a key time, as coaches work to line up their pitching for the postseason grind.
“Us being able to save Gavin, and keep him on one day’s rest, and being able to keep Noah on no day’s rest, it was a very successful night all the way around,” Fraley said. “We were able to do exactly what we wanted to do — and I’m looking forward to seeing what we do (Thursday).”
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