Baseball is one of those crazy sports where it really doesn’t matter who won yesterday’s game or how well a certain team played. Things can happen overnight in this game that have nothing to do with who the better team is.
Take the Red Bank Lions for example.
The Lions have been battling all year to get back to a competitive level where they were in recent years. They’ve made steps in the right direction, but progress has also been slow at times.
Red Bank took one on the chin at Signal Mountain Monday night when the Eagles rolled to an easy 9-2 win as they improved to 19-3 overall and a perfect 7-0 mark in district 6-AAA.
Without question, the Eagles have one of the best teams in town this spring, but they didn’t get the job done in the second game of the series Tuesday night at Red Bank.
The Lions jumped to an early 3-0 after one inning and it was 5-0 after two. Signal made things interesting with four runs in the fourth to make it 5-4, but Red Bank answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth en route to a stunning 8-5 victory, putting the Lions at 13-10 overall and 4-4 in 6-AAA.
Red Bank coach Matt Roberson really didn’t know what to think after Monday’s humiliating defeat, so his message was plain and simple before the first pitch was thrown on Tuesday.
Just go out and fight and we’ll let the results take care of themselves, the coach stressed Tuesday afternoon.
And nobody on the Red Bank side was any happier or more satisfied after the final out had been recorded than Roberson, who has been masterful up to this point in his rebuilding effort.
“That was a big one as Signal Mountain has a really good baseball team. It’s been a while since we’ve beaten them,” the coach said afterward.
“All I asked is that we fight for all we were worth. Our goal was to jump on them early and we did, but we came out tonight ready to play. We made some great plays defensively and we also got some timely hits, but that was certainly a big win for us and lets us know that we can play with teams like that,” Roberson continued.
Sophomore Sean Brune pitched the first five innings and got the win after allowing five runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out four. But it was senior Kalel Carter, who is a success story in his own right, who was the biggest hero of the night for the Lions.
This guy is a senior who had shoulder surgery during the off-season and wasn’t cleared to play until right before the season began. With his team holding onto a precarious 8-5 lead, Carter allowed the Eagles to load the bases in each of the last two innings, but didn’t allow a run to get a huge save for his teammate Brune.
Carter got the first two outs in the sixth before the Eagles loaded the bases with a walk to Bo Cooper, a hit batter to Ben Timblin and another walk to Jake Edmondson. The scrappy righty was more than ready for the challenge as he got Cash Keene in a swinging third strike to end that inning.
Then in the seventh, he got Barrett Anderson on a grounder to second for the first out before Ty Harper and Blake Wolfard both singled before Brady Timblin walked to load the bases.
Again, he was up for the challenge as he got Vance Wilburn on a called third strike for the second out before getting Cooper to ground to short for the force at second to end the game.
“Kalel Carter has been through the worst in his time here at Red Bank, but he was the man tonight and I’m so glad to see something good happen for him,” added Roberson.
Signal Mountain coach Josh Gandy knows that this is a funny game and that anything can happen on any given night. He didn’t seem the least bit upset when his team came up short at the end.
“Give Red Bank a lot of credit because they played great tonight,” Gandy said after a quick talk with his players following the game.
“We had more than our share of chances, but their guy did a great job of working out of tough situations. They did what they needed to do to win this game. I’m certainly not happy with the results, but it’s the little things we need to clean up.
“They clearly outplayed us in every aspect of the game. We hit a lot of balls hard, but just couldn’t get a big hit when we needed it,” he nodded.
Ben Timblin, who hit two home runs in Monday’s game and who had four homers in his last seven at-bats, was one of two Signal Mountain players with two hits, but he wasn’t a factor in the scoring.
He also took the loss for the Eagles as he allowed all eight runs on seven hits before being replaced with one out in the fifth. He also had six strikeouts and three walks while also hitting three.
Wolfard was the other Eagle with two hits.
Logan Denton had three hits to lead the Lions while Jack Barkeloo had two. Barkeloo drove in the first run with a two-out single in the first while freshman Alex Feid had a two-run single to make it 3-0.
Denton drove in the fourth run in the second with a single to left while the fifth scored on a Signal Mountain throwing error.
Signal will turn its attention to a tournament in Loudon called the I-75 Pileup this weekend where they will face Lakeway Christian on Thursday. The Eagles then face their biggest series of the season on Monday and Tuesday when they face Soddy Daisy for the district championship, Monday’s game at Soddy Daisy and Tuesday’s at Signal.
Red Bank returns to action with a road game at Sequatchie County on Thursday before hosting Anderson County on Saturday.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 000 410 0 – 5 9 1
RED BANK 320 012 x – 8 9 1
Timblin, Edmondson (5) and Wilburn; Brune, Carter (6) and Alvarez, Brune (6).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)