Sparked by Luke Brackett’s four RBIs, Sequoyah turned early runs into an 11-5 win over Heritage April 16 in Madisonville, splitting the regular season series with the Mountaineers in a tight District 5-3A.
Sequoyah (8-11; 4-4 District 5-3A) pushed seven runs across the plate in the first two innings after being shut out through the first five frames of the first game in the series — a 9-4 loss at Heritage.
Ashton Stamey supported the offense with two RBIs. Eight different Chiefs combined for 12 hits on the day — including multi-hit performances from Brackett, Josh Britton, Stamey and Triston Tipton.
Ryan Hall, Levi Johnson, Bryson Raper and Dru Sasser added hits as well.
“Luke was a solid anchor in the middle of the lineup today. He has simplified his approach with two strikes and is becoming a tough out. He was a huge contributor to our success in driving in runs and being on base and extending innings,” Sequoyah coach Josh Monhollen said. “Any time that nearly everyone in the lineup comes away with a hit or two is going to give you a chance to score enough to win.”
Britton opened up the scoring in the top of the first, reaching home off a Brackett groundout. Two batters later, Sequoyah doubled the lead when Aaron Hunt scored on an error with two outs.
Another error in the next at-bat scored Stamey and set up Sasser’s RBI single to score Johnson for a four-spot.
Two hit batters set up Sequoyah to build on the lead a frame later. Hall capitalized with one out, singling to score Raper.
The Chiefs added two more runs in the next two at-bats off RBI singles from Brackett and Stamey. Heritage flipped a double play to escape the inning, already trailing 7-0.
Stamey found an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth with Brackett scoring two with a single in the fifth. Tipton pushed an 11th run across when he singled in the sixth.
While Sequoyah’s offense powered the Chiefs to a win, the defense preserved it. Heritage matched Sequoyah in hits but finished with 13 runners left on base.
The Chiefs turned a pair of crucial double plays. In the third frame, the momentum of two leadoff singles was quickly silenced by a grounder to Johnson who flipped over to Sasser for the second force out.
The Mountaineers put runners on the corners in the second inning — when the difference in the score was only four runs — but were shut down by a grounder to pitcher Hall.
One inning later, Maddox Jones snagged a line out before catching the runner advancing to second.
Heritage put two runners on with no outs in the fifth, but could not find a run. Three leadoff base runners an inning later led to only one run.
“Ryan did an excellent job on the mound again today and the defense performed behind him. I was proud of our guys for putting a complete game together. It's encouraging to see the pieces falling into place this time of year,” Monhollen said.
On the mound, Hall tossed 6.1 innings, striking out three before being relieved by Britton.
Loudon has run away with District 5-3A, sitting at 8-0 after the first round of series pairings. However, league play carries on through the final week where everyone will see each other one final time before the postseason.
Sequoyah and South-Doyle both rest at 4-4, having split the regular season, while Lenoir City is fifth at 1-7. Heritage is one game back of second place at 3-5.
“We are still working hard to improve with each game but love seeing the team come together and start to see the results of the work they've put in throughout the year,” Monhollen said. “We are excited to go into the final week of district play with a win and are optimistic with our chances to end the regular season on a positive note.”
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