The seasonlong struggle got a little easier for the McCallie baseball team to stomach Thursday with a 6-4 win over top rival Baylor.
Baylor, which also has suffered through ups and downs this year, got a taste of change the night before with a 9-3 win. The two will go at it again at 7 tonight at McCallie in the finale of the three-game series.
McCallie (7-14) scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning Thursday, giving pitcher Tommy Green some breathing room.
“Having four runs on the board when the other guys have none is huge,” said Green, who held the potent Red Raiders scoreless through the first four innings.
Green went five innings and wound up giving up three runs.
“We could’ve helped him out in the fifth, but a bad decision cost us a couple of runs,” McCallie coach Chris Richardson said.
Green struck out Baylor’s leadoff man in the fifth but then walked two in a row. Baylor got its first run on Blaine Booker’s fielder’s choice. Josh Ernest then chased Will Cooper and Booker home with a triple to right-center.
“I think Tommy got a little tired in the fifth,” Richardson said. “He got a win for us this past weekend at Brentwood (Academy), but this is the first time he has pitched on a four-day cycle.”
The Blue Tornado touched Baylor starter Will Stansell for four runs, thanks in part to two errors on the same play, one allowing David Dewhirst to reach base and the other letting Logan Pritchett score from second base. Before that, Jesse Souther poked an RBI single up the middle and Pritchett followed with a two-run single in almost the identical spot. Dylan Pritchett led off the inning with a double to right.
“It appeared that their first inning was going to be the difference in the game, but then we got back in it,” Baylor coach Gene Etter said.
Green did a great job against the Red Raiders’ first four hitters, allowing them just two hits in 15 official at-bats.
“Green is due a lot of credit,” Etter said.
First baseman Jeff Burke had a single and triple in four appearances for Baylor (9-12). Josh Ernest, Blaine Booker and Gavin Gibson had RBIs.
“Baylor has always been good and Baylor has always lived by the big inning,” Richardson said. “We were able this time to keep their big inning to three runs.”
The Red Raiders pushed across another run in the sixth and might have scored more if not for a botched tag-up at third. The runner tagged on a fly to deep right-center by Will Cooper but left too early, realized it and came back to the bag. The next batter was struck out by Sam Rising, who got the save despite giving up two hits in 1 2/3 innings.