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Eagles take early lead and hold off Mustangs

Andy Matheson

Smoky Mountain catcher Andy Matheson throws to first base to complete a strikeout in Monday's 7-5 loss at East Henderson. - Herald photo by Carey Phillips

 East Henderson jumped to a 5-0 lead after the first two innings Monday and held on for a 7-5 non-conference baseball victory over Smoky Mountain in bitter cold weather at East Flat Rock. "Considering the miserable conditions, it was a pretty well played game by both teams," Coach Tim Hawkins said. "It seems like our team is sort of snake bit right now with the other teams getting infield hits and bloopers."

The Eagles loaded the bases with no outs in the first against Justin Hawk (1-2) on an infield hit, a walk and an error. Two infield outs scored runs before Chris Romeo's RBI single became the first ball hit out of the infield making it 3-0.

East added two unearned runs in the second for the 5-0 margin.

The Mustangs (7-4) got back in contention by scoring four times in the third. Justin Ray and Hawk singled with the big hit being Joseph Ensley's second triple of the game. Three errors helped SM cut the gap to 5-4.

Ben Queen's RBI single extended the East lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the third.

Singles by Jake Lunnen, Ensley and Matt Hopkins brought SM within 6-5 in the fifth.

Two walks and an error allowed East to score an insurance run in the sixth.

"With the weather the way it was and getting behind 5-0, I felt it could have been one of those quick games," Hawkins said. "We continued to battle."

Ensley was three of four while Lunnen was two of two plus two walks. Hawk was two of four. Brad Cooper was two of four to lead the Eagle offense.

The Mustangs wasted a leadoff triple in the second and left the bases loaded in the sixth.

Back to Sports: 03/29/01.