Cody Henegar got his second pitching win of the season Thursday, and all Steven Roberts could do was shrug his shoulders.
The Marion County baseball coach’s talented sophomore, a 6-foot-8 right-hander, went three innings of a five-inning, 20-3 win over Grace Academy in Ooltewah’s Varsity Team Sports Invitational. He gave up three earned runs.
However, though Henegar allowed just two hits, he had to pitch out of a couple of jams after issuing walks to five Grace batters and hitting two others.
“This is his worst performance,” Roberts assessed. “He walked more today than I have seen him walk in the two years I’ve been watching him.”
Henegar is making mistakes numerous young players make.
“Yeah, we’re on spring break, but he didn’t get to bed when he should have. He didn’t do the things you have to do to prepare for a game. He knew he was pitching today,” Roberts said. “I was going to stick with him no matter what and he got through it, but after that start I figured we’d have to outhit them and maybe we’d win 12-11.”
Henegar escaped a bases-loaded jam with just one run when his defense turned a double play to end the first inning. He walked the leadoff hitter in the second and picked up an out on a sacrifice bunt before striking out the next hitter and getting a groundout to second.
Henegar showed he has promise but remains a project.
“I told him he has to be ready to pitch, that he has to do things like getting to bed at a decent hour and getting up at a decent time and getting a good breakfast,” Roberts said.
Henegar almost escaped unscathed in the third. After walking Josh Blake and hitting Jarrad Pence, Henegar got a strikeout and a pop-up. However, Matt Ruebush lined a double to right-center and Nico Logan singled before Henegar got his third strikeout.
Roberts’ chagrin was tempered by a victory, but Grace coach Ruston Pierce was even more puzzled than his Marion counterpart.
He went through five pitchers without finding a stopper as Marion scored six runs in the second and eight in the third.
“We played well against Walker Valley, and then we played so poorly against (Marion),” Pierce said. “We’re a very young team playing a difficult schedule. It is taking time for the kids to learn their roles and what we need to get to the region.”
The Eagles got to the region last year and Pierce has to keep reminding himself and his team that being overmatched now will pay off in the postseason. Roberts knows. Although his Warriors got to the AA state tournament last year and posted a school-record 31 victories, they already have suffered a 10-run rule loss — to Mount Juliet last weekend.
“It was 4-0 going into the third, 6-0 in the fourth and 10-0 in the fifth and we’re saying hello to goodbye,” Roberts said. “To beat teams like that, you have to play perfect. You have to be flawless defensively, your pitchers have to hit their spots and you have to get timely hits. We didn’t, but that’s how you learn.”
The Warriors did come up 12 hits Thursday, to go with 12 free passes. Jake Morgan was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and Sam Griswold had two hits.
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 ...
