Ohatchee, Oxford earn splits of their spring break doubleheaders
SATURDAY BASEBALL
Smoky Bear Invitational
Seymour, Tenn.
Ohatchee 7, East Robertson (Tenn.) 6
Cumberland County (Tenn.) 16, Ohatchee 3
Choccolocco Park Spring Break Experience
Signature Field
Staley (Mo.) 8, Oxford 4
Oxford 14, Grove City (Ohio) 10
Staley (Mo.) 15, Dothan 13
SEYMOUR, Tenn. – While most of their rivals decided to either go south or stay home for spring break, the Ohatchee Indians went another direction to get the competition they hope will get them ready for the area gauntlet ahead.
The Indians went north, to Tennessee, for the first time. They lost their first two games on the trip, but they did get a win and headed home Saturday afternoon after splitting their getaway day doubleheader.
They beat defending Tennessee Class A state champion East Robertson 7-6 and then lost 16-3 Cumberland County in their final game in the Smoky Bear Invitational.
“It was good for us to come up here and play some good baseball teams and get a win,” Ohatchee coach Blake Jennings said. “The kids came up here and compete against some really big schools … and we competed our tail off. That’s whata this trip is all about, getting us ready for area games when we get back.”
The East Robertson game belonged to Carson Tittle. The freshman went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs at the plate and pitched the first six innings giving up six hits, three earned runs and striking out six.
He hit a two-run double in the second that gave the Indians a 6-1 lead. Justin Powell hit a solo homer in the fourth – his first for Jennings – that proved to be the winning run.
“He’s a freshman who plays like a junior and he’s had to,” Jennings said of Tittle. “That’s one of the things with us not having Devin (Howell) today. He had to step up even more today at the plate and he helped himself a ton on the mound.”
Brent Honaker homered in the nightcap, but Cumberland County hit two for five runs.
Ohatchee 330 010 0 – 7 9 3
E. Robertson 012 002 1 – 6 6 4
WP: Carson Tittle. LP: William Jones. 2B: Carson Tittle 2 (O), Wyatt Pearson (ER), Miller Cothron (ER), Carter Holland (ER). HR: Justin Powell (O), Wyatt Hobgood (O).
Oxford rallies to earn a split
OXFORD – The Yellow Jackets were playing catch-up all day. They didn’t quite get all the back in their first game of the day and lost to Staley (Mo.) 8-4 but they did put it all together in the nightcap and beat Grove City (Ohio) 14-10 to salvage a split.
“We go back to quality at-bats and there were a couple times we got five or six in a row,” Oxford coach Wes Brooks said. “That was the goal and that creates aa big inning. I just think we believed we could do it and we did. It was not giving up.
“On a day we were shorthanded on pitching we’ve got to use our offense to win it and I thought the hitters put that game on their shoulders and found a way to get it done.”
The Jackets pounded 18 hits against Grove City, which was playing its first game of the season. Eight players had at least two hits.
They were down 4-0, 8-2 and 10-5 and clawed back it make it 4-2, 8-5 and 10-8 before finally tying it in the fifth with one of the most aggressive plays in the game and one not completely out of character for the Jackets.
They had Sam Robertson and Miguel Mitchell at second and third with one out. Hayes Harrison hit a grounder to second. The play went to first for the out and Mitchell scored easily, but Robertson wasn’t stopping and scored all the way from second on a ball that never left the infield.
The Auburn commitment didn’t break stride coming around the bag and when the catcher took the throw a little up the line Robertson defty slid in behind him to tie it at 10-10. The Jackets had done it several times with Trey Higgins last season and have done it three times with Robertson this year.
“We say it before it happens because if you don’t give the verbal most of the runners will check up when they get to the bag (at third),” Brooks said. “It’s a little bit risk-reward, but why not go ahead and take the gamble if you’ve got some speed there.”
Carter Johnson carried that momentum to the mound and set Grove City down in order, then hitters stayed hot and scored four in the bottom of the sixth to take their first lead of the day.
Caleb Thomas squeezed home the go-ahead run, Mitchell tripled home a run, and Robertson and Harrison had RBI singles.
Johnson went out in the seventh and set Grove City down in order to preserve the win.
Mitchell had three hits. Harrison and Thomas both had three RBIs. Chance Griner and Tide Gann had two hits and two RBIs apiece. The Jackets pounded 18 hits in the game.
In the opener, Staley jumped out 6-0 after three innings against Oxford starter Hayden Gallahar. The Jackets got a run back in the fourth on a double-play grounder and Mitchell blasted a three-run homer in the sixth to make it 6-4.
R.J. Brooks stifled Staley for three innings, but the Falcons struck for two insurance runs in the seventh and needed the cushion. The Jackets loaded the bases with two outs and brought the tying run to the plate, but Ty Hill got a strikeout to end the game.
The middle of Staley’s lineup – Gavin Siegfried, Tyler Leonard and Kenton Unruh – were a combined 6-for-8 with four RBIs. Leonard was 2-for-2 with three RBIs.
Harrison had two hits for Oxford.
Staley 204 000 2 – 8 8 0
Oxford 000 103 0 – 4 7 3
WP: Matix Miller. LP: Hayden Gallahar. 2B: Tyler Leonard (S), Hudson Gilman (O), Caleb Thomas (O). 3B: Peyton Watts (O). HR: Miguel Mitchell (O).
Grove City 224 200 0 – 10 9 0
Oxford 023 324 x – 14 18 4
WP: Carter Johnson. LP: Jackson Ware. 2B: Zak Sigman (GC), Hayes Harrison (O), Miguel Mitchell (O), Sam Robertson (O). 3B: Miguel Mitchell (O).
HR: [*** read more]
