In what would be his final high school baseball game, Whitwell pitcher Chris Cox came prepared. The senior limited Boyd-Buchanan to four hits and struck out seven.
As good as he was, though, Boyd-Buchanan’s Austin Cline was just a little better and got a little more run support in an eight-inning, 2-1 victory over the visiting Tigers.
The Buccaneers advance to today’s Region 3 championship game at South Pittsburg. The winner will host a sectional game Friday, while the loser will travel.
Both of the runs Cox surrendered were earned, but they were hard-earned.
“I hate to lose him. He’s thrown like that all year,” said coach Scott Barton, whose Tigers became the first Whitwell team to make a postseason advance in 12 years.
“His curve ball kept us off balance,” Bucs coach Josh Rider said. “We were fortunate to get a few hits.”
Cox kept the pressure on the Bucs, who put the game away in the eighth when Rance Harden’s two-strike double to left-center scored John Hale with the winning run.
Hale, who doubled in the third and came around to score his team’s first run, reached when he was hit square in the back. He then broke for second on the first pitch to Jim Cardwell, who put one back through the hole vacated by the Whitwell shortstop as he went to cover second.
“Yeah, it made me look good. I told both of them to get a jump, and it worked out,” Rider said.
With the jump, the fleet Hale was able to go to third, setting the stage for Harden’s shot to the base of the fence.
Without Cline, though, the Bucs might not have been so fortunate. He struck out nine and walked none, faltering only in the fifth when he hit Bailey Kilgore and gave up an RBI single to Joe Privett.
“He was unbelievable. He was in control and throwing a lot of strikes. I felt comfortable with him out there,” Rider said.
Both pitchers went the distance, but Kline kept the handcuffs on the Tigers most of the day. Two of the three hits he allowed never got out of the infield.
“He was consistent — worked ahead in the count almost all day,” Barton said.