At the end of March, the Columbia State baseball team won two out of three TCCAA games against Walters State, then the No. 1 junior college team in the nation.
Friday at Chattanooga State, Walters' Senators got even.
With both teams already assured of going next weekend to the East Central District playoffs at Cochran, Ga., the Morristown team took command early and won 9-2 in the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII tournament final against Columbia's Chargers, the regular-season champions.
The Chargers (42-12) were sixth in this week's poll. Walters (52-9) was 11th, one spot behind district host Middle Georgia.
Walters right fielder Jake Ellison was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer in the third inning and an RBI double in the eighth. He was hit by pitches twice. Designated hitter Andrew Allen was 3-for-4 with a two-run single in the sixth and a double.
After the Senators opened the scoring with Ellison's homer off Logan Gray, they doubled their margin to 4-0 in the fourth, when Michael Davis and Reid Matthews opened with doubles and Ryan Webster followed with an RBI single.
Milan Mantle pitched the first six innings for the Senators and struck out 12 batters, but he also hit four and walked one. Alex Vondohlen and Jordan Parris got the first hits off Mantle with singles in the fifth, followed by a walk for Caleb Warnimont that filled the bases with two outs, but pitching coach Joey Seaver had a chat with Mantle and he struck out the next batter.
Mantle got himself in trouble from the start the next inning, hitting three batters with a Derrick Armstrong single and a strikeout mixed in, but coach Ken Campbell left him in even after Preston Carter beat out a potential double-play relay, allowing the Chargers to score their second run.
Parris then took a called inside-edge third strike, leaving the score 4-2.
"The damage control -- when we had bases loaded and nobody out and held them to two runs instead of letting them have a big inning -- that was huge," Campbell said later.
The Senators got four runs in their next at-bat and sidearming Columbia resident Zack Walton pitched the rest of the way against his hometown team, allowing two hits and a walk in three innings.
"He's a battler," Campbell said.
Matthews was 2-for-3 and scored twice and Marcus Davis and Michael Davis each was 2-for-4 with two doubles for Walters. No Columbia State batter had two hits.
Although the Chargers could have slept-walked through this tournament, they clearly didn't -- rebounding from a 3-2 loss to reach the championship game -- but coach Mike Corn wanted to see more fight Friday.
"Our kids came down here with one goal, and that was to win this tournament," he said. "We play for our program and we play for pride, and we did a good job of that down here. But I was really disappointed in our offensive approach today.
"We'll go back to Columbia and use the next few days to work on some things," Corn added. "I don't think this game will have any effect on how we play next Friday. I just wish we had been more competitive."
Dr. Wade McCamey, the Walters State president, was present for the trophy presentation and expressed delight in his school's two finishes this week -- runner-up to Chattanooga State in softball and champion in baseball, in each case one notch above the team's seeding.
"Our teams have had a tremendous season," McCamey said. "Obviously we're very proud of our young ladies with their second-place finish, and we will be following our men as they travel with Columbia State down to Middle Georgia."
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.