Hartselle gets back on track
Hartselle’s baseball team rebounded from a pair of losses to Spain Park on March 22 to defeat Tullahoma (Tenn.) in both games of a doubleheader Friday, March 25.
In the nightcap, the Tigers built a 5-0 lead and held on to win 5-4.
No team scored until the third inning when Will Swann scored on a third baseman error after Colton Ord collected an infield hit. The error allows Swann to go all the way from first base to home on the play while Ord wound up at third.
Zach Letson drove in Ord with a sacrifice fly ball, giving Hartselle a 2-0 lead.
Two more errors in the fourth inning allowed the Tigers to pad their lead. Austin Spangler scored on when Dax Gillespie reached on an error. Swann drove in Gillespie on an RBI and later scored on Ord’s double.
Errors in both the sixth and seventh innings allowed Tullahoma to cut the lead to 5-4, but Hunter McCaghren struck out the final batter to earn the save. He went 1 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk.
Jackson Smith (2-2) earned the win in 5 1/3 innings of work. He allowed two runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
Ord led the Tigers with a 2-for-2 outing, two runs scored and an RBI. Swann also scored twice on a hit and hit batsman with an RBI. Cowan also had a double. Hartselle had just four hits in the win.
In the first game, Jacob Garrison (2-0) went the distance to earn the victory in Hartselle’s 9-3. He allowed just two earned runs on six hits with seven strikeouts and no walks. He only threw 86 pitches in the complete game.
Letson got Hartselle off to a good start. The leadoff hitter took his second pitch of the day and went yard for a solo home run, giving Hartselle a 1-0 lead.
An unearned run scored for Tullahoma to tie the game in the second inning after a shortstop error kept the inning alive.
Three more runs scored in the third inning. Ord walked home as Chris Brown drew a bases-loaded walk. Deacon Aldridge and Cowan then scored on Gillespie’s single to left field.
Hartselle took a commanding 8-0 lead in the fifth inning, as Cowan, Gillespie, Kaleb Jones and Todd Gibson all scored. Keaton Bennich, Gibson and Ord all drove in runs.
The final run for Hartselle scored in the sixth inning when Brown drove in Cowan with a base hit.
Garrison made one mistake, giving up a two-run homer in the seventh inning, but he closed out the game with no more damage.
Cowan led the way with two hits, three runs scored and a triple. Gillespie was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run. Gibson also had two hits with an RBI and a run. Brown also scored twice.
