The Chattanooga Christian baseball team has played some important games this spring, but chances are good that none have been any more crucial than the one they played at home Tuesday afternoon.
Facing arch-rival Signal Mountain in a battle for first place in District 7-AA, the Chargers claimed that honor with the 5-3 victory, giving CCS a 2-1 edge over the Eagles for the season series.
The Eagles had beaten the Chargers in an early-season tournament before the Chargers pinned a 13-3 loss on them at Signal Mountain Monday night.
With the regular-season championship on the line and the top seed for the upcoming district tournament, the Chargers took care of business as they won their seventh straight game and improved to 23-3 overall for the season and 14-1 in 7-AA.
The Eagles are now 22-7 overall and 13-2 in district play.
Each team’s ace pitched on Monday with the Chargers’ Matthew Mercer getting the win over Seth Wicker. That set up Tuesday’s winner-take-all scenario.
Joseph Wharton, a senior right-hander for the Chargers and the younger brother of head coach Ben, was more than up for the challenge as he went the distance and improved to 6-0 with a steady performance.
There was nothing overpowering about his performance, but he had good location the entire game, got critical outs at the most opportune moments and didn’t walk anyone.
The Eagles stranded six runners for the game, including two in the first and two more in the sixth, but he got fly-ball outs to left field both times. Signal Mountain scored single runs in each of the first three innings, but that’s all the scoring the Eagles did as Wharton was in total control.
“We had sort of a rough start, but he just kept telling me to have fun and throw strikes,” the personable pitcher shared the message his older brother was stressing for most of the afternoon.
“Signal Mountain is a tough team, so I had to stay confident in what I was doing. I knew I had to throw strikes and the defense did the rest. I’m super excited that we just won the regular-season district title, but there’s still a long way to go,” the 18-year-old senior added.
Alec Woollums reached on a CCS error to start the game and stole second before scoring on a single by catcher Garrett Hensley, who had three hits including two doubles to lead his team.
Ryan Sekenski singled to right and went to second on a throwing error by the CCS right fielder before scoring on a sacrifice fly to center by Daulton Cunningham.
Then in the third, Drew Lowry led off the inning for the Eagles with a single and stole second. He then advanced on another Charger error before scoring on a sac fly to left by Collin Farr.
Meanwhile, the Chargers put three runs on the board in the first before adding singles in the second and fourth innings.
Justin Wheeler led off the CCS first with a double. He stole third and scored when Hensley’s throw sailed into left. John Rhodes then reached on Signal’s second error of the inning before going to third on a double by Chris King.
Rhodes and King then scored on back-to-back wild pitches to give CCS a 3-1 lead.
Wharton led off the second with a walk and was replaced by courtesy runner Alex Phillips, who stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Wheeler.
Then in the fourth, Wharton earned a leadoff walk again before Phillips stole second and third and eventually scored on a passed ball.
Hensley had two-out doubles in the fifth and seventh innings, but was stranded both times.
Then in the Signal sixth, Garland Wood singled with one out and Briston Reese beat out an infield single with two outs, but both were stranded when Cunningham flied to right to end that threat.
The Eagles had one last shot in the seventh as Hensley doubled with two outs, but Wharton got Wicker on a fly to right on the first pitch to end the game.
“That was a tough one,” said Signal Mountain coach Josh Gandy shortly after the game ended.
“This was a really emotional game for both teams and we were both a little on edge at the start, but I think the difference was they made our errors hurt more. We walked too many and made too many errors, but this was a good experience for us and I’m hoping we’ll get to play them again.
“Their pitcher threw a great game as he threw all three of his pitches for strikes and did a good job of keeping us off balance the entire game,” Gandy added.
Older brother Ben Wharton was all smiles when it ended.
“That was a little ugly at the start, but it was crazy and fun,” he began.
“We fought and battled the entire game and scored when we needed to. Considering the stakes, I thought that Joseph had a phenomenal outing. He stayed calm and collected and just got after folks. He limited a really good team to just eight hits.
“We knew we had to be ready to play today. Yesterday’s game was important, but if we hadn’t won, this game wouldn’t have meant anything. We just have to keep working,” he nodded.
Wharton was the winning pitcher and still unbeaten after six decisions as he allowed all three runs – none were earned – while scattering eight hits and striking out three.
Sophomore southpaw Mark Jones was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs in the first two innings. He was replaced by Sekenski after walking King to lead off the third.
Hensley was the only Eagle with three hits while Wheeler finished with two hits and four stolen bases.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 111 000 0 – 3 8 2
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN 310 100 x – 5 6 3
Jones, Sekenski (3) and Hensley; Wharton and Gilbert.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)