A buzz surrounded the Chattanooga-area baseball scene Thursday as two of the state’s top teams squared off at Baylor.
Entering play, the Red Raiders and Silverdale Baptist had combined for 40 straight wins and 71 home runs in 46 games.
Baylor’s big bats proved to be the biggest in a 6-0 win as senior Caleb Hampton and juniors Tomas Valincius and Nelson McKnight went deep — the latter two going back-to-back to key a four-run sixth inning.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound left-handed Valincius had great extension homer, a three-run blast that went into the parking lot well beyond the right-centerfield fence to build a 5-0 lead. McKnight followed by clearing the high trees behind the right field fence.
“Our motto is to pass the baton,” McKnight said. “If you pass the baton then things are going to work together and you are going to get the victory at the end. We go up there with the same approach that we always do. I always think go left centerfield, but if the ball comes in I try to do as much damage as I can.
“Out of all our home runs, Tomas had the furthest. He definitely pieced it.”
The Red Raiders (18-1) won their 17th straight game and have now hit 39 roundtrippers on the season, which leads the state. Hampton produced the game’s first two runs with a home run to left field in the fourth inning after being robbed early in the game by Brett Rogers’ running catch on the centerfield warning track.
Virginia signee Henry Ford leads Baylor with 11 home runs, while Valincius has nine, followed by Mack Whitcomb with seven and Hampton with six.
“You can’t pitch them the same way every time,” Baylor co-head coach Mike Kinney said. “If you try to duplicate, you are in trouble. That’s just what good hitters do. They can hit any pitch. Their approaches at the plate are getting better and better and they are harder to get out by the day. When a kid takes a good swing on a ball they are looking for, our guys hit it a long way.
“We swing to do damage. We talk about it all the time. But we are also a team that can put the ball in play when we need to. They are not just swinging for the fences.”
Silverdale (25-4) came into play riding a 24-game winning streak and had 35 home runs, but their bats were quieted by freshman southpaw Henry Allen and reliever McKnight.
Hampton made an excellent catch against the left field fence to rob Rogers of extra bases, while Allen induced weak contact by working in a three-pitch mix and not making many mistake pitches. McKnight threw three scoreless in relief with three strikeouts.
Valincius left no doubt in the first of two matchups between the state powers, who will face off one more time this season on May 2.
“We have put all the work in and are really starting to feel it in the game,” said Valincius, a fellow Virginia commitment who is 4-0 with a 0.61 earned run average. “We feel confident in the box. We believe no one can beat us, so we are just gonna keep doing our thing and just keep hitting the ball hard.”
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.