Cleveland’s baseball Blue Raiders never expected to be undefeated when they headed for home Tuesday. They were, after all, playing District 6-AAA baseball favorite Red Bank.
However, the Raiders got adequate pitching, timely hitting and solid defense to beat the Lions 7-3.
“We got outplayed. Period,” Lions coach Bumper Reese said after his team committed five errors and managed just four hits. “Cleveland outplayed us in every aspect. They made defensive plays and we didn’t help ourselves defensively. They got hits when they needed them, and we’re still looking for (those hits).”
Red Bank twice left the bases loaded against Cleveland lefty Cameron Brewster, who combined with Daniel Park on the four-hitter.
“He got himself in a couple of jams,” Cleveland coach Ted Carson said. “We got a double play to help him out once, and then he pitched himself out of another jam.”
Brewster faced a bases-loaded situation in the third inning after Brandon Ward doubled, Jake Ledbetter reached on an error and Corey Emery walked. With one out, Brewster induced a ground ball from Alan Walden for the double play. Then in the fifth, he gave up back-to-back singles to Ward and Craig Barker and consecutive walks to Ledbetter and Emery before striking out the next three Lions.
“Brewster gave us six good innings and showed the kind of battler he is,” Carson said.
Tyler Brown’s two-run single gave Cleveland a quick lead in the opening half-inning, but Red Bank eclipsed the lead on Emery’s two-run single up the middle. Cleveland came right back with two in the second on a double by Brandon Rader.
Rebuilding after losing its top pitcher and two of its top hitters to graduation, Cleveland was picked in the lower half of District 5-AAA. It is a position that coaches may have to reassess. The Blue Raiders beat East Ridge in five innings Monday before their unexpected win Tuesday.
“We’ll keep going hard. We can’t take anything for granted,” Carson said. “Our teams have proved the last couple of years that anything can happen.”
The Blue Raiders last year upended state-title favorite Murfreesboro Oakland in a sectional game to make the state tournament field.
Red Bank, meanwhile, was coming off an 11-inning win Monday over Ringgold, but Reese refused to use that as an excuse.
“Yeah, we had an 11-inning game, but that’s no excuse,” he said. “I saw the wind go out of the guys’ sails in the fifth when we went K-K-K. I feel like we have good pitching, but we have to make the routine plays.”
Ward Gossett is an assistant sports editor and writer for the Times Free Press. Ward has a long history in Chattanooga journalism. He actually wrote a bylined story for the Chattanooga News-Free Press as a third-grader. He Began working part-time there in 1968 and was hired full time in 1970. Ward now covers high school athletics, primarily football, wrestling and baseball and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling. Over a 40-year career, he has covered ...
