Smoky Mountain rallies for victory at Hayesville

"It was a great win for us," Coach Tim Hawkins said. "Hayesville has an outstanding team and has some good pitching. For us to battle back like we did shows a lot of character. That's the kind of thing that can overcome a lot of deficiencies."

The decisive frame started when losing pitcher Eric Rivera walked Patrick Dowling and yielded a double to Justin Ray. A run scored on Dustin Melton's infield out, and Justin Hawk delivered an RBI single. An error followed by a walk to Josh Carnes loaded the bases. Joseph Ensley and Matt Hopkins drew walks forcing in runs putting SM on top 10-9. Dowling was hit by a pitch forcing in another run.

The Yellow Jackets closed within 11-10 in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by J.R. Hopf. They had the tying run at third and the winning run at second when Jake Lunnen (1-1) nailed down the win with a strikeout.

The Mustangs broke on top 1-0 in the second on singles by Israel Vargas and Dustin Melton and a double by Hawk.

They made it 4-0 in the third as Carnes led off with a triple and Ensley and Hopkins followed with doubles.

Hayesville took advantage of three errors in the bottom of the third to score seven times for a 7-4 lead. Singles by Josh Hawk and Jeremy Salmon were the lone hits of the inning.

Singles by Richard Engert and Hopf helped the Jackets extend the margin to 9-4 in the fifth.

Ensley had an RBI triple in the sixth and scored on a wild pitch bringing SM within 9-6.

Ensley was three of three at the plate plus two walks. Hawkins said he "murdered the ball."

Hopkins, Hawk and Dustin Melton all had two hits.

Engert, Salmon and Hopf had two hits apiece to pace Hayesville.

The Mustang JVs fell to 1-2 as Hayesville came from behind to win 7-6 at SM. Brody Frizzell was three of four at the plate while Jared Day and Ben Robinson were two of four.

Brody Crawford had a strong effort on the mound as SM took a 4-1 lead after four innings but failed to hold on. Stephen Karby was the losing pitcher.

"We got a great effort from Brody Crawford," Coach Bill Rice said. "Brody has really improved since last season."

He said the Mustangs are leaving too many men on base. In the two losses, they have stranded 14 runners in scoring position.

Back to Sports: 03/08/01.