RINGGOLD, Ga. - The fact that the Ringgold High School baseball team just finished a perfect week in Region 6-AAA would hardly qualify as news. Dig deeper, though, and it's easy to see why coach Brent Tucker was both pleased and a bit exasperated after the Tigers' second big comeback win of the week.
Tucker's team trailed Bremen 6-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning but erupted for eight runs in the next two innings to pull out a 9-6 win Friday. The victory gives Ringgold (17-4, 9-0) a two-game lead over Bremen (14-5, 7-2) and the rest of 6-AAA through the first half of league play.
"We've had two great come-from-behind wins, down five both times, and both times late in the games we had big innings," said Tucker, whose team also rallied to defeat Sonoraville, 11-10, earlier this week. "We've definitely got to check ourselves a little bit and show up ready to play a baseball game, but we also found out we have a lot of fight in us."
The visitors jumped on Ringgold pitcher Holden Tucker for two runs in the first inning and three in the second, with an error and three walks leading to most of the damage along with Jimbo Brown's two-run single in the second. Coach Tucker brought on Wyatt Tennant, usually the team's No. 3 starter, to begin the third inning, and the lefty allowed just one run and two hits with six strikeouts over the last five innings.
Ringgold's rally began when Tennant walked and No. 9 hitter Dylan Wright reached on a sacrifice-bunt attempt when the Bremen catcher tried unsuccessfully to cut down the runner at second. A batter later, Holden Tucker doubled in a run and then Andre Tarver, who had hit a solo homer in the first, was intentionally walked.
Daulton Schley then singled in a run and Gavin Hollis made it 6-4 with a sacrifice fly. Wright and Nathan Camp walked with one out in the sixth to ignite the winning rally.
Tucker flied out to deep center and Bremen pitcher Sam Thompson quickly got Tarver in an 0-2 hole. Camp stole second to put two runners in scoring position, and Tarver promptly delivered a two-run single to tie the game.
"The count got to 0-2 so they had to pitch to him," Coach Tucker said about Tarver's big at-bat. "We stole at 1-2, he got a big hit backside and then we went double-double-double."
Schley, Hollis and Ty Jones hit RBI doubles as the Tigers took and then extended the lead.
Tennant allowed a leadoff double to Brown, but he tried to steal third with no one out down three and was thrown out. Bremen had a walk and a single by Carson Cook, but Tennant got the next two batters to seal the win.
"I just wanted to throw strikes and make them hit it," Tennant said. "My changeup was working well today, and I was able to spot my curveball on the outside against righties. We are hitting the ball really well, so we all knew we weren't out of it. The two comeback wins are nice and it shows we are never out of a game. We are sitting pretty solid in the region, which is nice."
Tarver led Ringgold's nine-hit attack with three hits and three RBIs, with Schley adding two hits and two RBIs. Brown had three hits and Thompson two for Bremen.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22