PHOTO GALLERY: Falcons flip script, win game 2

CHURCH HILL — Volunteer flipped the script on county rival Cherokee on Tuesday, April 9, at Joey Seaver Field with a pair of double plays and a masterful pitching performance to win 3-2 in the second game of the series. Cherokee won Monday’s game by a 2-1 margin.

District 2-3A teams play a home-and-away series on back-to-back nights and then meet once more later in the season to determine the final standings and postseason seedings. Volunteer will host Cherokee again on April 25 in the final regular-season conference game for both teams.

“The last two nights, that’s the type of baseball you want to see every night — two guys on the mound going at each other, kind of keeping offenses at bay and defenses making plays,” said Volunteer coach Josh Peterson.

“Tonight, for us, Isaiah (Bowery) makes a backhand in the six-hole and throws a guy out. We hadn’t had luck like that all year. We cut a couple of balls off in the gap to keep runners at first base and not extend them to a double. All around, I can’t say anything bad about our defense tonight,” he added.

Volunteer’s Austin Williams continued to perform well under pressure, pitching his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the seventh inning to pick up the complete-game victory.

Trailing 3-2, the Chiefs got back-to-back singles from Manning Brooks and Clay Wagoner to put two on with nobody out in the top of the seventh. Williams induced a ground ball which he fielded himself for the out at first and then got a flyout to left field for the second out. The Falcons opted to put Keaton Lawson on with the intentional walk to load the bases and set up the force-out around the horn. Williams wouldn’t need it. He struck out the final batter on three straight pitches to end the threat and the game.

“This is what this rivalry is all about, good competitive baseball,” said Cherokee coach Gus Fraley. “The better team definitely won tonight. We executed in some timely spots last night to come up with the win. They executed in timely spots tonight, they win. Now, things get interesting.”

Williams scattered seven hits across seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) with four walks and 10 strikeouts in the game.

“He wasn’t as efficient tonight as he has been in the past, but he got a lot of ground balls and the defense stepped up behind him. We got two double plays tonight, which is huge. Anytime you’re a pitcher and see your guys turn a double play, that’s a confidence booster,” Peterson said.

Cherokee starter Gavin Housewright turned in a solid performance as well. The Falcons took advantage of a quartet of Chiefs’ errors and a wild pitch to plate three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk. Housewright struck out seven and threw just 74 pitches in the game (54 of them for strikes).

“We had a great outing from Gavin, and just don’t take care of the baseball defensively and don’t executive offensively,” Fraley said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to not execute and still win baseball games. But good teams take care of bad baseball. I hope this is a wakeup call for us.”

It was nearly a mirror image of what Peterson dealt with on Monday night.

“Last night, we left 11 runners on. We had a few spots there with runners on second and third, or runners on third, and we couldn’t capitalize. That’s one thing we preached coming in tonight, to be aggressive,” Peterson said. “When we’ve got runners on the basepaths, we’ve got to find a way to be productive and get them in.”

HOW THEY SCORED

Cherokee got its leadoff man on board in the first and second innings, but the Falcons erased them both times with double plays. The Chiefs loaded the bases in the third with one out, but Williams pitched his way out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts to keep it scoreless. Housewright reciprocated by striking out all three Falcons’ hitters and it stood at 0-0 through three.

Cherokee again got its leadoff hitter on in the fourth, but Williams struck out the side to bring his Falcons back to bat. And, this time, they rewarded him with some run support.

Brycen Feagins started things off with a leadoff single. Isaiah Bowery then reached on an error on the sacrifice bunt that left Volunteer runners at second and third. Connor Haynes smacked a hard line drive to left field to score Feagins. A miscue by the Cherokee outfielder gave Bowery enough time to race home and suddenly the Falcons led 2-0 with nobody out. Williams lined out on a sliding catch by Jacob Brooks in right field for the first out of the inning. Anthony Blasini then singled on a line drive to move Haynes to second. The ball was overrun in the outfield, allowing Haynes to move to third. The Falcons’ speedy center fielder would come around to score two pitches later on a passed ball before Housewright and the Chiefs could get out of the inning. End of four, Falcons 3-0.

It’s all the cushion Williams would need. The junior right-hander continued to confound Cherokee’s hitters with another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. Housewright answered with the same.

Cherokee would finally break into the scoring column in the top of the sixth. Parker Travis led off with a double and moved to third on a passed ball. Keaton Lawson drew a walk to put runners at the corners for the Chiefs with nobody out. Pinch runner Jayden Weston stole second before Williams picked up another strikeout. Jake Elliott then grounded out to shortstop Isaiah Bowery to plate Travis from third. Housewright was hit by a pitch, which brought on courtesy runner Eli Boyd. An error on an exchange between the catcher and pitcher brought Weston around to score, but again Williams managed to pitch his way out of the jam — stranding the tying run at third with another strikeout.

LOOKING AHEAD

Weather permitting, both teams will play a couple of nonconference games before heading into the gauntlet of the regular-season finales next week. Cherokee’s final district stretch starts at Greeneville on Monday, April 15, while Volunteer will travel to Claiborne.

Cherokee will then host Claiborne on Tuesday, April 16, while Volunteer heads to Grainger. Greeneville returns to Volunteer on April 22, and Cherokee plays at Grainger on April 23.

The county rivals will then wrap up the District 2-3A regular season on April 25 with what could be a huge district game at Volunteer.