Sequatchie County won but first-year Indians coach Aaron Simmons wasn’t impressed with his baseball team following a 5-4 win at Notre Dame on Tuesday.
“Some days you’re on and some days you go out there feeling you already have it won,” Simmons said after the game at Rick Hunter Field.
His players were a little more relaxed than he would have liked, perhaps because they had beat the Irish 7-4 the day before in Dunlap.
“Notre Dame played like a different team,” Simmons said. “They were ready to play and they played like they wanted to be out here, which was the exact opposite of my team.”
Regardless, the Indians moved to 2-0 in District 7-AA. They scored two runs in the top of the seventh on Kyle Harmon’s home run and then held the Irish to two runs in the bottom of the inning.
“We play well at times, but at times we are lackadaisical. We’re a lot better team than we’re showing,” Simmons said.
The Indians played just well enough to rally twice before nailing down their seventh win in nine games.
Notre Dame took an early lead when Nick Chambers scored on Chase White’s bases-loaded walk in the second. The Indians got the lead in the third on Cole Bryant’s RBI single to center and a bases-loaded walk to Dakota Hudson, but Notre Dame tied it again on Chambers’ groundout. Sequatchie then went up 4-3 on the first home run of Tyler Kilgore’s career. It cleared the scoreboard in right-center.
The Indians extended the lead to 5-2 on Harmon’s homer but had to hold on to keep the Irish winless.
Zak Swartout’s sacrifice fly scored Shelton Brogden with Notre Dame’s third run, and Chambers’ solo homer cut the margin to 5-4. Winning pitcher Bryant gave up a walk before inducing a game-ending fly to left.
Bryant went the distance and struck out nine, while his Notre Dame counterpart, Nick Swiney, struck out 10 in six innings.
“Both of our guys (Swiney and Chandler Fox) have thrown unbelievably well,” Notre Dame coach Drew Friedrich said. “Nick had a game earlier where he struck out 11 and we got beat 2-0. We’re not giving them a whole lot of run support and not a whole lot of defense.”
While the Irish are winless in nine games, Friedrich is nowhere near ready to throw in the towel even after the disappointment that accompanied their first one-run loss.
“We’re getting closer. It was good to see us battle in the seventh,” he said. “The kids are knocking on the door. Our pitchers are pitching their arms off, and we have to get them a win. You can’t leave eight men in scoring position and expect to win.”
The Irish stranded nine runners, including three in the second when they scored one.