GREENEVILLE — For the first time in nearly three decades, Volunteer is headed to the regional baseball tournament.
Senior Connor Haynes helped power the Falcons to a 3-1 win over Cherokee in eight innings on Friday in the losers’ bracket final of the District 2-3A baseball tournament at Tusculum’s Pioneer Park. The win secured the Falcons a spot in the district championship game and a trip to this week’s Region 1-3A tournament. It is Volunteer’s first regional baseball appearance since 1995 and just the second ever..
“I’m just so happy. I’m so proud of everybody. We all just came together and played baseball the way we know how to play baseball,” an emotional Haynes said after the game. “We’ve put in a lot of work, and we’re finally seeing it pay off.”
It was the fourth meeting between the two Hawkins County rivals. The first two were decided by one run, each team winning on its home field. The third game, just last week, was tied 4-4 heading into the seventh when Cherokee pulled away for an 11-5 win that sent Volunteer spiraling in the league standings. It forced them into an extra play-in game, which they won before fighting their way through the losers’ bracket to get back to Friday’s winner-take-all showdown.
“We put ourselves in a terrible position. We’ve fought through three games and won out, and we’re heading on to regionals now. It feels amazing,” said Volunteer shortstop Isaiah Bowery.
“To battle with Cherokee and go into extras, it’s amazing. We knew going into the game that we had to be locked in. I think everybody came and provided something for the team. Everybody stayed up, and that helped us the most to keep momentum going throughout the game.”
It was a classic pitcher’s duel between Volunteer’s Haynes and Cherokee junior Gavin Housewright. It stood tied at 1-1 after seven innings, forcing the extra frame. Both pitchers went the distance, throwing eight grueling innings and recording all 24 outs.
Volunteer, the tournament’s No. 4 seed, finally broke through in the top of the eighth. Brycen Feagins led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Bowery. Haynes then stepped in and delivered the game-changing blow, on a double to right field. Feagins scored and you could feel the momentum swing. The speedy Haynes came around to score on a line drive by Austin Williams, giving the left-hander all the cushion he’d need.
“When I got that double, and that run scored, I knew I was going to go back out there and I was going shove it and end the ball game,” Haynes said. “My teammates put their bodies on the line when I go out there. I know they’re going to have my back, and I’m going to have theirs.”
Haynes got a fly ball to start the bottom of the eighth inning and struck out the remaining two batters in the heart of the Cherokee lineup for the win. Haynes gave up just five hits, walked one and struck out six in eight innings of work.
“Hats off to Connor. That’s an unteachable trait that kid has. He’s a competitor, and I have a lot of respect for him,” Cherokee coach Gus Fraley said. “When the game depended on it, he finds a way to get the job done. He finds a dagger to stick in something. On the mound, his demeanor was to be dominant from start to finish.”
Housewright also threw a heck of game, limiting Volunteer to three runs on nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts. His outing came on a day’s rest after throwing for the Chiefs in the tournament opener against Grainger.
“The stuff was there. Some balls just have eyes. They found ways to get hits in front of us. We tried pulling them in to limit those, and they still found ways to get hits,” Fraley said. “It was nothing about his execution. That’s why we left him in the game. He was always one pitch away from getting us a ground ball or a fly ball, and some of them just fell. It’s just baseball.”
Volunteer coach Josh Peterson took a risk early in the tournament, holding his two best arms (junior Austin Williams, who beat Grainger on Thursday and Haynes) for the losers’ bracket semifinal and final. The strategy paid off.
“We’ve left some games out there that we should have finished and put ourselves behind the eight ball quite a few times. But we’ve never quit,” said Peterson. “Not once have they just rolled over. These guys have been through a lot of adversity in three years and seen their fair share of heartbreak. They never quit. They just keep working, keep grinding. It’s unbelievable.
“I can’t say enough about our guys. They find a way. I couldn’t be any more proud of them. That’s a good ball club,” Peterson said of Cherokee. “We’ve got to play really good baseball against them, and we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do that.”
The loss to Volunteer ended the season for Cherokee (18-15) and marked the final game in a Chiefs’ uniform for seniors Keaton Lawson, Cole Putnal, Jacob Brooks, Noah Hunter and Bryce Elliott.
“Them being seniors this year doesn’t come close to dictating what they did here. They have been the foundation to successful baseball being brought back to Cherokee High School,” Fraley said.
“You’re disappointed because you lost. As far as executing, as far as defense goes, and even as far as our work at the plate goes, we hit the ball on the barrel pretty consistently. It was just right at somebody. It’s just the unfortunate part of the game. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out in our favor.”
HOW THEY GOT THERE
The Falcons, who lost to the Chiefs in the final conference game of the season, fell all the way to the No. 4 seed in the tournament and had to beat Claiborne 12-2 in the play-in game on Wednesday, May 1, just to get into the double-elimination bracket. They then lost to top-seeded Greeneville 5-2 in Wednesday’s nightcap to fall into the losers’ bracket, forcing them into an elimination game on Thursday against Grainger.
Volunteer won its elimination game 4-2, thanks in large part to the defensive play of shortstop Isaiah Bowery who turned a bases-loaded double play in the bottom of the seventh inning to hold the Grizzlies at bay.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, finished second in the regular season and beat No. 3 seed Grainger 15-5 on Wednesday in five innings to advance to the winners’ bracket final against top-seeded Greeneville on Thursday night. Like the Falcons on Wednesday, the Chiefs had one bad inning against the Greene Devils, and it cost them. Greeneville exploited Cherokee’s mistakes for three runs in the fifth and held on for a 4-2 victory to derail another solid pitching performance by senior Keaton Lawson.
With the win over Cherokee, Greeneville secured a spot in Friday’s District 2-3A championship game and an automatic berth in next week’s Region 1-3A tournament.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP
With the regional berth in hand and its two aces past their pitch counts, Volunteer turned to a trio of young arms to battle Greeneville in the championship game. The Greene Devils outhit the Falcons 11-3 to cruise to a 10-0 victory and collect the District 2-3A championship hardware.
The bigger prize, however, is home-field advantage for this week’s Region 1-3A tournament. In even years, the even district’s champion hosts the regional.
It already promises to look a lot different than expected, because Tennessee High — the state’s top-ranked Class 3A team for most of the season — won’t be there. Elizabethton and David Crockett upset the Vikings on back-to-back nights to end their season at 24-6.
“You’ve just got to keep doing what you’re doing. When you go out, you’ve got to remember it’s still baseball. You’ve still got to field it, you’ve got to hit it, you’ve got to throw it,” Peterson said. “Our pitchers have to throw strikes. We’ve got to execute different things, but it’s still the same game no matter who you’re playing.”
The Cyclones and Pioneers will represent District 1-3A in the regional tournament, but the order of finish won’t be known until their championship game is played on Monday night. Greeneville will face the loser of that game; Volunteer gets the winner. Both regional semifinal games will be played Friday, May 10, at Tusculum’s Pioneer Park. The championship is set for Saturday, May 11.
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