Alec Woolums was dead meat at third base on a stolen-base attempt but survived when the throw from home skipped into left field. He was dead meat again at home, but the relay from the outfield plunked him in the back.
So Woolums, who led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to right-center, provided what would be the winning run Thursday as Signal Mountain held on for a weather-delayed baseball season opener, 4-3 over visiting Grundy County.
"We won on a fluke. but you're always thankful to have that 'W,'" Signal Mountain coach Josh Gandy said. "I said early that Grundy would be right in there with the (District 7-AA) leaders. Their pitcher battles, and at the plate they battled."
The Eagles were grateful to have Seth Wicker, the Lee-bound lefty, on the mound, especially in the first four innings when he needed only 45 pitches to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay.
"The first four innings were very efficient. In the fifth it was almost like I hit a wall. I felt like I lost my mechanics," he said. "I wasn't hitting my spots, I got behind in some counts, and that's what cost me those three runs."
Wicker's pitch count exploded over the next two innings and he gave up the three runs after walking a batter, hitting another and surrendering an infield single. Both the batter who walked and the one he hit came around to score as Grundy closed within a run.
He escaped another hit batter and another walk in the sixth, sandwiching those between two strikeouts and an infield pop-up.
"Seth is hard on himself, but I never met a good pitcher that wasn't," Gandy said. "He's thinking, 'I got the win but I could've pitched better, done a little better.' It's something for him to work on between starts, and that's what he'll work on."
With the pitch count climbing, Wicker was lifted in the seventh, giving way to closeout specialist Jackson Etter, who picked up the save by facing just one over the minimum.
"It's awesome having someone like him. If you get in a bad spot you can always rely on him to come in and get it done," Wicker said. "He's always in that mode to get guys out."
His teammates spotted Wicker to a three-run lead in their first at-bat. Grant Galbraith walked to lead off, Drew Lowry singled and Etter singled to right to score both of them. Ryan Sekenski then added an RBI double to left-center.
"At the beginning and end of the game we had good at-bats, but in the middle we gave some away," Gandy said. "This is a veteran team. Guys like to drive the ball and we got a little impatient, but the early runs were huge for us."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him on Twitter @wardgossett.