LOCAL SPORTS NEWS | Smyrna — Sometimes the right players step up at the right time.

Moore County put together a clutch performance down the stretch on Wednesday to beat the North Greene Huskies 7-5 in the Raiders’ second game in the TSSAA Class A Baseball Tournament.

Solid hitting and clutch pitching

Down 5-2 at the end of the sixth inning, the Raiders entered their final at bat in need of some solid hitting and solid hitting is what they delivered.

On the second at bat, Will Harder singled on a line drive to center field. Then, Ryder Morey also singled to center field. With runners on first and second, Kyler Parker drew a walk to get the bases loaded with Gage Burt up next. Burt knocked a sacrifice fly way out into right field allowing Harder to score. With two outs, the Raiders trailed the Huskies, 5-3.

On the next at bat, Chris Martin walked — setting up bases loaded again with Kaden White on deck. The senior Raider singled on a hard line drive to center field allowing both Ryder Morey and Kyler Parker to score. With just one out remaining, the Raiders knotted the score at five.

Enter Donavin Pearson … the senior Raider stepped up to the plate on the next at bat and doubled on a line drive to center field. The first baseman tagged him out but not before Elam Brown (courtesy running for Chris Martin) and Kaden White scored to give the Raiders a two run lead heading into the last at bat.

Enter Keller Morey … the younger brother of starting pitcher Ryder Morey relieved his brother after six inning. Keller gave up a double on his first pitch then shut the whole thing down. The next batter flied out to right fielder Kaden White and the final batter went down swinging.

Ryder Morey got the start and win for the Raiders. He pitched six innings allowing 11 hits and five runs. Keller Morey pitched the final inning — allowing just one hit and no runs to earn the save.

Donavin Pearson led for the Raiders with three hits on four at bats. Kaden White and Will Harder followed with two hits each.

Tomorrow the Raiders will rematch with South Pittsburg after the Pirates won against North Greene 5-1 in the one loss bracket. That game will start at 2 p.m. Tickets are available on the Go Fan app. Raider fans can also keep up with the action on the Game Changer app or The Lynchburg Times Facebook page will post live score updates throughout the game. •

{The Lynchburg Times is the only daily newspaper in Lynchburg. Covering Metro Moore County government, Jack Daniel’s Distillery, Nearest Green Distillery, Tims Ford State Park, Motlow State Community College, Moore County High School, Moore County Middle School, Lynchburg Elementary, Raider Sports, plus regional and state news.}