The Silverdale Baptist Academy baseball team wrapped up its week on the diamond by rallying to a 9-7 extra-inning victory at McCallie, in the process improving to 157-52-2 since Lance Rorex took over the program.
Neither of those numbers were the bottom line as far as the Seahawks coach was concerned.
The comeback win came on Good Friday and the start of Easter weekend, and it was an opportunity for Rorex to spotlight the ultimate triumph for himself and his team: finding their identity not in the outcome of each game, but in a Christian faith that defines their approach on the field and off it.
“We don’t give up on ourselves in any game because of what Jesus did for us on the cross by defeating death and sin,” said Rorex, who was the baseball coach and athletic director at Lookout Valley, his alma mater, before heading to Silverdale in summer 2019.
“We can respond in certain ways because we understand our identity is not wrapped in this sport. Our identity was made for us on the cross. That’s a big reason why whenever we get punched in the mouth, we can say, ‘It’s OK; this doesn’t define who we are.’ We are just going to chip away and keep being the best version of ourselves we can be.”
The Seahawks certainly had to chip away Friday afternoon, when the Blue Tornado (13-8) built a 5-0 lead as Vanderbilt signee Noah Wilson and sophomore Carter Noland laced back-to-back two-run doubles with no one out in the bottom of the second. The Seahawks (13-6) fought back to score seven straight runs, then won in the eighth inning as pinch-hitter Jackson Mullins delivered the go-ahead RBI off the fence.
Silverdale Baptist at McCallie baseball on April 3, 2026
Fellow Silverdale sophomore Brayden Melton went 4-for-4 with a walk, stole four bases and scored four times, including the go-ahead run on Mullins’ decisive rip from the left side of the plate.
“Brayden has done an outstanding job,” Rorex said of Melton, who leads the team with 15 stolen bases and has struck out just four times this season. “He was our eight-hole hitter at the start of the season, and now he is leading off for us.
“To see Jackson Mullins get that gigantic moment was awesome, too. He gets a chance to hit there because of what he has done on our JV team. We see what he and our guys do during those JV games. Nothing goes unnoticed, and he came up big for us.”
Silverdale’s bullpen quieted McCallie’s bats as seniors Tanner Bayne and Graham King and junior Cannon Rogers combined to allow just two hits while striking out seven batters in six innings.
Rogers, a hard-throwing right-hander, was wildly efficient in the fifth and sixth as he threw two hitless innings while working around five walks. His lively fastball was matched well with a hard slider, and he now has a 1.27 ERA in eight relief appearances with 17 strikeouts in 11 innings.
“Cannon was outstanding out of the pen,” Rorex said. “He is probably the best reliever in the city right now. I can give him the ball any time we are in a close game. He is throwing a lot of hard sliders. Any time we are in a one-run ballgame in the fifth, he knows what is about to happen. He can flip the switch and is a bulldog for us.”
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Silverdale senior Graham King hit his third home run of the week and team-leading fifth of the season on a screaming line drive over the left-field fence to make it 5-all. The Gadsden State signee — who was also the winning pitcher for the second game in a row — hit a pair of homers to help Silverdale win two of three against Boyd Buchanan in a TSSAA Division II-A District 2 series Monday and Tuesday.
“Graham has stepped up in big moments this week,” Rorex said. “That’s what you expect out of a senior guy who is going to play in college. Our guys did such a great job responding correctly and responding well.
“We gave them 15 free bases today (12 walks, two hit batters, one intentional walk) and still found a way to chip back and win the ballgame. It’s a game of ugliness and of resiliency. These guys know how to have a good response when things hit the fan.”
McCallie senior Jerome Lehoux, a left-handed hitter, delivered an opposite-field two-run homer on a high fly ball in the seventh to make it 7-all. Noah Wilson added a triple, a double, two walks and his 13th stolen base of the season.
Out of the gate, the Blue Tornado were provided two solid innings pitched each by sophomore Ryce Phillips, who lowered his ERA to 2.40, and senior Peyton McCallister, who lowered his to 2.10.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.