Austin Hutchison was masterful as second-seeded tournament host Chattanooga State defeated Roane State 3-0 in the opening of double-elimination play Thursday in the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII baseball event.
Roane was 5-35 after defeating Southwest Tennessee 8-3 in a play-in game Wednesday, and Chattanooga State coach Greg Dennis felt his 28-10 Tigers should have scored more runs in the quick game Thursday morning. Still, he was happy to move on.
They play today at 4 p.m. against Columbia State, a 9-0 winner over Dyersburg State.
Top-seeded and nationally eighth-ranked Walters State won 6-3 over Cleveland State, which had won 6-4 over Motlow on Wednesday as Blake Thomas and Cole Baxley each drove in two runs and Thomas, Janson Roberson and Wright Hackett had two hits apiece. Drew Korzybski was the winning pitcher with two perfect innings of relief and a save from Colton Morgan.
Aaron Hobbs was 3-for-5 and Spencer Mossburg doubled twice for Motlow (8-30).
Cleveland State (23-21) plays in the losers bracket today at 1 against Jackson State, which lost to Volunteer State in the high-scoring night game Thursday.
In Chatt State's win, Chaz Vesser walked in the second inning, stole second base and scored on a wild throw on Michael Halley's bunt hit. In the fifth, Thomas Schmal singled to left field, David Mayo singled to right, Andy Clay was hit by a pitch and Michael Goss brought in two runs with a single to center.
That turned out to be the last scoring of the game, but it was plenty as Hutchison allowed only two hits and the Tigers made no errors. The winners totaled seven hits.
"(The Raiders) came in hot after winning yesterday with their backs against the wall, but Austin pitched a great game," Dennis said. "He was announced as first-team all-conference last night, and it was more than deserved.
"Offensively we did some good things, but we didn't do as much as we should have. In the late innings we just didn't do a good job getting runners in."
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@times freepress.com.