LOCAL SPORTS NEWS |Smyrna — Add an overflowing Moore County crowd, a determined Raider baseball team, and a little luck and you just might win your first-ever state playoff game. The Moore County Raiders travelled to the TSSAA Class A State Baseball Tournament on Tuesday and beat South Pittsburg 8-2 to win their first round game. They move on to play the North Greene Huskies (27-8) from Greenville today at 12:30 p.m. The game will happen at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna.
Hot bats and lights out defense wins the game
In the first inning, Ryder Morey got things started for Moore County with a line drive single to center field. On the next play, Kyler Parker bunted to advance both runner. The duo stole a base each then, Chris Martin scored Morey on a sacrifice fly. On the next at bat, Kaden White singled to center field allowing Parker to score. At the end of the first inning, Moore County led South Pittsburg 2-0.
Neither team scored in the second or third inning. In the fourth, Ryder Morey flied out in foul territory allowing younger brother, Keller, enough time to tag up and then score. Then, with two runners on and two outs inning, Kyler Parker kept the inning alive by forcing hot shot Pirate pitcher Ryan Cagle to throw strikes. He earned the walk with runners on. On the next at bat, Gage Burt singled on a line drive to the right fielder – scoring Dylan Thomas and Hayden Cooper.
With the Moore County student section in his head, Pirates pitcher Ryan Cagle came out of the game at the end of the fourth inning. He threw 3.2 innings and gave up six hits and five runs. He also had three errors. Senior Blake Owens relieved him.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Pirates then went three up and three down. At the plate for Moore County, Kaden White batted first. He singled on a fly ball reaching first base. With Donavin Pearson up, White stole second to give himself a little breathing room. Pirates pitcher Owens hit Keller Morey with a pitch, advancing him to first base. One play later, White crossed home plate on a passed ball. Hayden Cooper singled on the next play to score Keller Morey. At the end of the fifth inning, Moore County led South Pittsburg, 7-0.
The Pirates managed a single hit in the top of the sixth but headed back to the dug out on a fly out to Moore County center fielder Kyler Parker.
On the Raiders next at bat, Gage Burt doubled on a line drive and then Chris Martin doubled scoring Burt. The Raiders went into the final inning with a comfortable 8-0 lead.
On the Pirates second at bat, Jackson Lewis scored on a passed ball giving South Pittsburg their first points of the game. Hayden Carter then balked to send the runner on third to home plate making the score 8-2. Keller Morey then came into to relive Carter with runners on second and first. Keller walked the next batter to get bases loaded. Wellington flied out to Keller Morey with all three runners staying in place and then the Pirate’s Stone lined out to Donavin Pearson to get Moore County out of the inning and into their first state tournament win.
Gage Burt, Chris Martin, and Kaden White led for Moore County with two hits each. Burt also got the win on the mound. He pitched a little over three innings allowing just three hits and zero runs. The Raiders also earned zero errors. •
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