From a beginning as glum as the weather that hampered high school baseball in the early going, Boyd-Buchanan is beginning to more resemble the Class A favorite it was expected to be.
The Buccaneers went close to four weeks without being able to use their field, because of the inclement weather, and were five games into the season before registering their first win. They now have won seven of their last eight, losing only to Huntsville Grissom in the Central Invitational championship game last weekend.
Victory No. 8 came Thursday in the opening game of Lookout Valley's Yellow Jacket Classic as they beat the hosts 8-3. They later beat Rockwood 16-0 as Brandon Willingham pitched a five-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts.
The win over Lookout Valley was not as easy as the score indicated. The Bucs led just 2-1 through their first four turns at the plate and stranded four runners in scoring position in each of the first two at-bats.
"We didn't do a good job of getting them in when we got them on early," Boyd-Buchanan coach Josh Rider said. "As a coach you worry when the guys let chances like those slip through their fingers."
The Bucs finally wiped the sleep from their eyes -- the first pitch was at 9 a.m. -- to break the game open with a five-run fifth, keyed by two-run doubles from E.J. Matthews and Brandon Willingham.
Matthews had a 2-for-3 morning and scored twice. He was the only player in the game with two hits.
Josh Antwine gave Boyd-Buchanan the early lead. Following a game-opening single by Cade Evans, Antwine found the gap in right-center and hustled his way to a triple.
The Bucs made it 2-0 in the third when Matthews walked, moved to second when Austin Jackson was hit by a pitch, stole third and scored on Hunter Payne's sacrifice fly.
Skyler Anderson pitches a complete game in an 8-3 Boyd-Buchanan win over Lookout Valley in the Yellow Jacket Classic baseball tournament Thursday, April 2, 2015, in Chattanooga.Lookout Valley tightened the game with a run in the bottom of the third. Fleet Jevonte Epps hustled a long single down the left-field line into a double and then scored on Riley Phillips' opposite-field single to right.
The Bucs sent nine men to the plate in the five-run fifth.
Lookout Valley touched Boyd-Buchanan starting pitcher Skyler Anderson for a pair of runs in its last at-bat -- the bottom of the sixth in the game cut short by time limit. The Jackets had only two hits in the inning, by Drew Fitzsimmons and Gavin Thacker, but were aided by a walk and two hit batsmen.
"Skyler did OK," Rider said. "He didn't have his best game today and he would tell you that, but he's Mr. Reliable and he's going to go out and battle for you."
Anderson gave up six hits but walked four and hit three batters while striking out five.
"We didn't quit and we put some pressure on those guys. Skyler's one of the best pitchers we'll see all year, but we competed in the box," Lookout Valley coach Lance Rorex said. "We still have to learn to do the little things right. Against a good team like that we can't afford to give extra bases, but we're getting there."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.