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Smoky Mountain rallies to claim wild baseball win over Panthers
Smoky Mountain rallied from a 10-2 deficit to defeat Franklin 13-12 in non-conference baseball action March 7 at the SM field.
The game was called due to darkness in the bottom of the sixth shortly after the Mustangs had taken the lead.
Grant Schallock was four of four to pace the SM offense.
Smoky Mountain’s Mitch Mincey pitched an inning and two-thirds of scoreless relief helping the Mustangs rally from a 10-2 deficit to defeat Franklin 13-12 last week. – Herald photo by Carey Phillips
“I had a feeling when we got down 10-2 that the game wasn’t over yet,” Coach Marvin Schade said. “We had hit the ball well the first two innings, but I felt if somebody could come in (to pitch) and stop the bleeding we could win, and Mitch Mincey did that.”
Mincey went to the mound in the fourth and got out of a jam before pitching a scoreless fifth.
Daniel Buchanan (1-0) shut the Panthers out in the sixth for the win.
“Daniel hadn’t pitched since Little League until this year,” Schade said. “He’s a feel-good story. He came in and shut the door.”
The Mustangs trailed 12-10 entering the bottom of the sixth with darkness closing in. Schallock doubled with one out, and Buchanan followed with an RBI single. Walks to Mincey and Jared Jones loaded the bases. Sammy Matthews hit a ground ball to drive in the tying run, and the winning run scored on an error on the same play.
SM sent two more batters to the plate before umpires halted he game.
The Panthers went up 2-0 in the first on a bases-loaded walk to Christian Vose and Parker Mathis’ infield out.
The Mustangs tied it in the bottom of the frame. D.J. Brooks walked and Alex Koji singled putting runners on the corners. Schallock had an RBI single, and another run scored on an error for a 2-2 tie.
Brian Stanfield’s RBI double gave Franklin a 3-2 edge in the second.
The Panthers appeared to have the game in hand after scoring seven times in the third to take a 10-2 advantage. The key hit was Casey Burnette’s three-run double. They took advantage of four walks, a hit batsman and an error in the frame.
Three errors helped SM cut the gap to 10-7 with five runs in the bottom of the third. Schallock had a two-run double while Jordan Moss and Justin Price contributed singles.
A two-run single by Vose extended Franklin’s lead to 12-7 in the fourth.
Andy Potter started the bottom of the fourth with a home run. Mincey had an RBI single, and an error allowed a run to score making it 12-10.
Stanfield and Burnette both had two hits for the Panthers.
Burnette was the losing pitcher in relief.
Mustang pitchers issued 13 walks and hit a batter.
The Mustang JVs rallied from a 9-0 deficit but fell short 9-8 at Franklin.
“Lucas Brooks had another outstanding pitching performance, but our defense let him down,” Coach Ron Watson said. “All nine runs were unearned.”
The Panthers had just three hits.
Dakota Meadows and Josh Ammons both had two hits. Ronnie Mau had a key hit for SM to start the comeback, according to Coach Ron Watson.
“We have a lot of work to do defensively, but we’ll get there,” Watson said. “We’ve got to support our pitchers better.”
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