Blake Howard's homer lifts Silverdale to upset win

Silverdale baseball coach Jonathan Adcock during their prep baseball game Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at Silverdale Baptist Academy in Chattanooga.
Silverdale baseball coach Jonathan Adcock during their prep baseball game Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at Silverdale Baptist Academy in Chattanooga.

SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. -- The last time Blake Howard had a home run, he was more concerned with what flavor snow cone he would get after the game.

It was a different kind of treat Howard was looking forward to after Monday night's sixth-inning two-run shot that proved to be the game-winner in Silverdale Baptist's 5-4 upset of South Pittsburg in the Region 3-A baseball semifinals.

photo Silverdale baseball coach Jonathan Adcock during their prep baseball game Tuesday, April 28, 2015, at Silverdale Baptist Academy in Chattanooga.

"I'm just excited because now we have another game to look forward to," said Howard, a sophomore whose last homer had come as a 10-year old in youth ball. "I've hit a couple of deep ones this year, but they were caught near the fence. As soon as I connected (Monday night), I knew I got it.

"We lost by a run in 12 innings to them last year so this is pretty good redemption."

Not only was it Howard's first varsity homer, but it was also the first home run for any Silverdale Baptist hitter this season.

Fellow sophomore River Crowther, a right-hander, allowed just four hits and struck out six to earn the pitching win. The Seahawks will visit district rival Boyd-Buchanan in Wednesday's region final.

The game had been back-and-forth. The Pirates scored on a throwing error in the first, the Seahawks (12-13) took the lead with two runs in the third and the hosts regained the advantage with three runs in the bottom of the inning.

The Seahawks came up big with two plays at the plate that resulted in outs, including the game's final out on a bang-bang play.

"It's been such an up-and-down season, with more downs than ups, so to get a win like this, over one of the teams that's been the gold standard for Class A baseball in our area, is just huge," said Seahawks coach Jonathan Adcock.

"We've struggled on offense most of this year, but we were patient and did the things we needed to tonight to get some runs. And even though we made some errors to give them a couple of their runs, we made plays when we needed to late to hold on."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

Upcoming Events