Chattanooga State already had secured a place in the next round of the baseball postseason before playing Walters State on Sunday for the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII championship, so the Tigers had some consolation about the top-seeded Senators' six-run eighth inning and second 7-3 victory of the day.
The crucial work for the second-seeded hosts had come earlier, particularly in the 10-4, 10-inning victory over Volunteer State that ended about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. That put Chattanooga State in the tournament final, and when Walters avenged a Saturday loss to Dyersburg with its first 7-3 win of the final day, the Tigers were assured of joining the Senators and two Georgia teams in the East Central District tournament May 14-17 in Morristown, Tenn.
As the TCCAA regular-season champion, nationally eighth-ranked Walters (45-10) already was set to host the district event. Darton is the Georgia regular-season junior college champion, and the final participant will be determined in the Georgia tournament this week.
Chattanooga State wanted the title of region champion, however, and the No. 1 seeding in the district tourney, and the Tigers (30-11) led 1-0 and 3-1 in the winner-take-all final.
The Tigers were the visitors on the scoreboard, and Andy Clay opened the first inning with a walk, went to third on singles by Michael Halley and Michael Goss and scored on a double play. First-team all-conference pitcher Austin Hutchison and his defense kept the potent Senators at zero until the sixth inning, when TCCAA player of the year Ross Grosvenor hit a one-out double, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Jarrett Hood's single.
Chattanooga State immediately responded with two runs. Hunter Parker led off the seventh with a single and went to third as Clay scooted to second when his grounder deep in the hole at shortstop was thrown away at first base. Halley hit a sacrifice fly deep to right field for a 2-1 Tigers lead, and Goss got Clay home from third with an infield hit that was played to the plate but too late.
Hutchison worked around a walk for a scoreless seventh but ran into trouble in the bottom of the eighth, when Grosvenor and Hood opened with high-bouncing singles the infielders couldn't reach and Weston McArthur was hit by a pitch. Chattanooga State coach Greg Dennis brought second baseman Clay in to pitch, and Bryan Bussey shot a sidearm delivery just inside the third-base bag for two runs and a 3-3 tie, leaving runners on third and second.
After a strikeout, Clay threw home late on a tough-chance play he fielded. That put the Senators up 4-3, and Dennis sent Clay back to second and brought in left-hander Brennon Swindoll, who struck out Lucas Ledford and then yielded to right fielder David Mayo, who had been strong in relief earlier in the tournament -- including getting the last three outs after midnight. He hit leadoff man Kyle Wilson with a pitch, loading the bases, and Ramon Osuna shot a first-pitch two-run single that sped under the glove of Mayo's replacement in right field for another run.
Clay and Halley singled in the top of the ninth for the Tigers, but the Senators then got a double play off the bat of Goss. Those three guys at the top of the order each had two hits for Chattanooga State, as did Mayo.
Walters didn't have to win a game in the tournament to advance to district play, obviously, but the Senators battled back from deficits throughout. They had another late six-run inning, for instance.
"We try to preach to our guys to conduct themselves like champions no matter what," Walters coach Dave Shelton said, "so even in games we don't have to win we don't want to accept losing. Championship programs always are finding ways to fight back."
He admitted that losing two of three games in the regular-season series at Chattanooga State was a motivation for his team.
"Greg has done an unbelievable job down here this year," Shelton said. "They're tough. And they're right where they should be, playing in the district."
Mayo was 4-for-5 with two RBIs, Halley was 3-for-5 with an RBI triple and Goss had two hits and three RBIs in the 10-inning win over Vol State. In the 10th, the Tigers went single, RBI double, RBI single, single, RBI double and capped the outburst with a two-run double from Goss.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.