CALHOUN, Ga. -- Chip Henderson has been around enough to know that baseball games played this early rarely turn a season one way or another.
That being said, Tuesday night's 7-6 win over Ringgold has the potential to do just that for Henderson's Calhoun Yellow Jackets. Matthew Mullinax's three-run walkoff homer not only gave Calhoun a win over one of the teams expected to challenge for the Region 6-AAA title, but it avoided an 0-2 league start in the program's first year in Class AAA.
"Wow, what a big lift," Henderson smiled. "Matthew is batting in the third hole for a reason, and we knew if we could get a couple of runners on in front of him that, with the way the wind had picked up to left field, he could lift it and do some damage. He was able to do that, and what a big boost for him and our team.
"It is early and we've faced some good arms and quality teams right out of the gate. People have asked, 'What's wrong with the Yellow Jackets?' We've just got to hit the ball and we'll be fine."
Calhoun (2-3, 1-1), which lost a 1-0 thriller to Sonoraville last week, trailed 6-1 entering the bottom of the fourth as the Tigers (3-6, 1-1) used a pair of errors and eight hits off ace Spencer Cross to build the big lead for its own ace, Devin Lancaster. Zach Morris' two-out double in the fourth, Ringgold's third of the game, made it a five-run game and sent a few Calhoun faithful to the exits.
The Jackets started their rally with three runs in the bottom half, which included a Ringgold error and RBIs from Jonathan Harber, Chazz Moss and John Allen Kendrick. Lancaster, though, sailed through the fifth and sixth innings before encountering trouble -- not of his own making -- in the seventh.
Moss and Kendrick started the inning by reaching on errors, putting the tying runs in scoring position. Lancaster retired Jarrett Carden, but Mullinax picked out an early fastball and deposited it over the center-field fence for the game winner.
"I was just looking for a pitch to hit, and he gave me a low fastball and I hit it," said Mullinax, who was quick to praise his pitcher for keeping the team in it. "Spencer Cross went the final three innings strong, and it helped give us momentum. If we play every game like this, we know we'll be in every one of them."
Cross allowed only two baserunners over the final three innings and ended his night by striking out the side in the seventh to complete the gutty effort.
"That probably wasn't one of Spencer's best outings, but I tell you what, he was a warrior and from the fourth inning he just took over," Henderson said. "It meant so much for our morale for our guys to watch him battle like that. He could have called it quits early when we were down 6-1, but he stuck with it and gave us a shot to come back."
Mullinax and Harber combined for four of Calhoun's seven hits, while Hayden Moss, Garrett Peeples and Morris had two hits each for the Tigers.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.