CALHOUN, Ga. — Chip Henderson has been around enough to know that baseball games played this early rarely turn a season one way or another.
That being said, Tuesday night’s 7-6 win over Ringgold has the potential to do just that for Henderson’s Calhoun Yellow Jackets. Matthew Mullinax’s three-run walkoff homer not only gave Calhoun a win over one of the teams expected to challenge for the Region 6-AAA title, but it avoided an 0-2 league start in the program’s first year in Class AAA.
“Wow, what a big lift,” Henderson smiled. “Matthew is batting in the third hole for a reason, and we knew if we could get a couple of runners on in front of him that, with the way the wind had picked up to left field, he could lift it and do some damage. He was able to do that, and what a big boost for him and our team.
“It is early and we’ve faced some good arms and quality teams right out of the gate. People have asked, ‘What’s wrong with the Yellow Jackets?’ We’ve just got to hit the ball and we’ll be fine.”
Calhoun (2-3, 1-1), which lost a 1-0 thriller to Sonoraville last week, trailed 6-1 entering the bottom of the fourth as the Tigers (3-6, 1-1) used a pair of errors and eight hits off ace Spencer Cross to build the big lead for its own ace, Devin Lancaster. Zach Morris’ two-out double in the fourth, Ringgold’s third of the game, made it a five-run game and sent a few Calhoun faithful to the exits.