MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — In a game in which 10 of the 23 hits went for extra bases, a walk stirred the most excitement.
Andrew Crowe, who already had a home run and a double, drew a bases-loaded walk with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Boyd-Buchanan an 8-7 win over Adamsville in the Class A state baseball tournament.
Crowe fouled off one pitch and was picky enough to watch four others miss the strike zone. That brought in Tyler Garner, who had led off the half-inning with a double.
“The walk felt 10 times better than either of my two hits, including the home run,” said Crowe, who scored three runs and drove in two. “It looked like their pitcher was struggling, maybe he was tired, so I was going to make him give me a really good pitch.
“Watching that last one go by for a ball felt awesome. That’s my first walk-off walk.”
BOYD-BUCHANAN 8, ADAMSVILLE 7Adamsville 021 301 00 — 7 12 1Boyd-Buchanan 014 020 01 — 8 11 0WP: Matthew Crowe. LP: Jalen Kendall. HR: Will Erwin (A); Andrew Crowe (BB). 3B: Erwin (A); M. Crowe, Trey Ferguson (BB). 2B: Eric Hammock, Rob McArthur (A); Tyler Garner, A. Crowe, Hayden Meadows (BB). Other highlights: Hayden Meadows 3-3, 2 RBIs; Andrew Crowe 2-3, 3 runs, 2 RBIs; Matthew Crowe 2-4, 2 RBIs (BB). Records: Boyd-Buchanan 23-7; Adamsville 23-19.
Today at noon EDT, Boyd-Buchanan will play the winner of Tuesday’s last game between Eagleville and Hancock County.
“I told Andrew before that at-bat that we wanted a line drive but a walk would work just as well,” Buccaneers coach Steve Robbins said. “He’s a veteran and he never chased anything and made their kid come to him. Once he got ahead, I think nerves got to their kid a little bit.”
The teams traded the lead four times from the second inning through fifth before things settled down. Adamsville left runners on third and second in the fifth and sixth innings and had two runners on with no out in the top of the eighth but failed to score.
Matthew Crowe, the younger brother of Andrew, came on to pitch in the sixth inning and earned the win. He also went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Hayden Meadows was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs as well.
“Adamsville was clutch today. They just kept coming back at us,” Robbins said. “We were solid at times and shaky others, but we got out of here with a win, which is all that matters right now.”