McCallie’s Max Riemer is safe at first after St. Benedict’s Daniel Vailes loses the ball Thursday at McCallie.It took McCallie seven precarious innings in the first game of a state-qualifying doubleheader Thursday, but the Blue Tornado shrugged off a two-week layoff and will make their third consecutive trip to the TSSAA Division II-AA state baseball tournament.
The Blue Tornado won the first game 4-3 and then needed just six innings to club visiting St. Benedict 11-1. They’ll play their first Spring Fling game Tuesday (against Brentwood Academy or Briarcrest) in search of their second state title in three seasons.
“What I saw in the second game was guys getting their timing back. Two weeks is a long time to go without seeing live pitching,” McCallie coach Greg Payne said. “Three years in a row we have come off that two-week layoff and not played very well in the first game. Two times we managed to win but one time we lost, and then two of the three years we won the second game by run rule.”
It took a sixth-inning RBI single by freshman Drew McAllester to secure the first win. The two-out pinch hit followed a walk to Jake Behrends and Cruz Bautista’s two-strike sacrifice bunt.
“He’s fearless. He doesn’t play like a freshman,” Payne said of McAllester. “He didn’t look so good (falling behind 0-2) and then he got that hit – made me look like a genius, which I’m not.”
Alex Tucker then picked up his fifth save of the season, preserving the win for starting pitcher Carson McKoon.
“He didn’t have his best game but that’s being a senior, gutting it and doing what you can do with what you have,” Payne said of McKoon. “He’s a guy that relies on being sharp, and he just wasn’t sharp. We throw bullpens, but it’s not the same as game speed.”
Tucker was one of the second-game offensive leaders. He was 2-for-3 and hit a two-run homer in a fifth inning in which McCallie sent 12 batters to the plate while scoring seven runs for winning pitcher Jackson Bell.
“I felt like when we brought Alex in we were in good shape because he throws it pretty well, and he got two big strikeouts. Then he got the big home run in the second game,” Payne said.
“Having the bye really hurt us, but once we got our feet back under us after that first game I think we started feeling it again,” Tucker said. “The home run was a big hit for me and also the team. It set us up good – got us rolling.”
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-86-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.