The title defense is on.
McCallie hadn’t played a baseball game in two weeks, the Blue Tornado having been limited to practice.
The rust had begun to set in and it took the defending state champion hitters seven innings to brush it off.
The brush was best handled by junior third baseman Alex Tucker, who got his teammates over the hump in the first game of a doubleheader with St. Benedict and inspired them to a Game 2 victory that clinched a berth in next week’s state tournament at Wilson Central.
Tucker stroked a two-run single to center field in the bottom of the eighth to provide McCallie with a 3-2 first-game victory, and the Blue Tornado offense came to life in the second game for an 8-1 triumph.
The back-to-back wins for McCallie ended the season for St. Benedict, the Division II-AA West region runner-up.
Baylor, Chattanooga’s other DII-AA hopeful, opens its state bid at 6 tonight with a home doubleheader against Pope John Paul II.
McCallie was thankful to avoid a game today.
“That layoff was just too long. I felt we were rusty and flat, if you can be flat in a home playoff game to go to the state,” Tornado coach Greg Payne said. “Our timing was a little off. We were out front and hitting the ball in the air when what we teach is hitting hard ground balls and hard line drives.”
Tucker came up with a timely hard line drive with two outs and a 1-2 count.
“I was just looking for something I could take up the middle or get in a hole,” he said.
“The last 10-15 games he’s probably hitting .350,” Payne said. “I was quite comfortable with the matchup there because Alex has proven that he’s a good hitter. He did a great job to get us a huge win.”
Pitching was huge for the Blue Tornado in both games.
Corbin McCoon went five-plus innings and allowed just one hit, although a runner he walked in the sixth scored St. Benedict’s first run on a balk. Corbin Brooksbank came on with one out in the sixth and went the rest of the way, picking up the victory thanks to Tucker.
Tyler Payne, who’s been grounded due to mononucleosis, started on the mound the second game but gave way to Palmer Stevenson with one out in the second and returned to shortstop. Stevenson allowed three hits the rest of the way.
In that second game, Payne went 2-for-4 with a run, an RBI and three stolen bases, but the big guy was nine-hole hitter William Korn, who was 2-for-4 with a run and three RBIs. Mathew Brock, Drew Vaughn and Tyson Buchanan also had two hits.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.