Champs strengthen grip on 9-A lead

MURFREESBORO -- Cascade opened the door and sat comfortably in the driver's seat in the District 9-A standings with a 3-1 win over Middle Tennessee Christian.

MoMo Stewart fires away for the Champs. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

The Champions improved to 19-5 overall and a perfect 8-0 in district play to take a two-game lead over the Cougars (14-6, 6-2) with the tiebreaker in their back pocket.

"We've got four big district baseball games left and we've got to win two out of four and we can get the No. 1 seed (in the tournament)," Cascade coach Chris Parker said.

History repeated itself from Monday's matchup as Middle Tennessee Christian scored first in the opening frame. Taylor Beckham walked and eventually came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Cody Harrell.

Champion pitcher MoMo Stewart answered their challenge. He calmed down, got better as the game went on and shut out the Cougar sticks the rest of the way.

"(Stewart) does an outstanding job," Parker said of his junior right-hander. "If I had nine MoMo Stewarts, I could win anything I played. But, I tell you what, I'll take this bunch of boys right here any day. They're going to continue to work hard and continue to get strong mentally. We've just got to keep running that marathon and maybe we can cross that white tape."

Stewart finished with nine strikeouts while giving up five walks and three hits over seven innings of work.

MoMo Stewart comes across the dish with Cascade's first run. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

A throwing error by Cougar third baseman Andrew Kuhn allowed Stewart to reach and advance to second with one down in the top of the third. Justin Bryant plated his teammate with a single to center that knotted the game at 1-all.

Levi Bain worked a leadoff walk to ignite the Champion half of the fifth. Matt Bain laid down a sacrifice bunt that MTC pitcher Jake Siler mis-fired to first, allowing Levi Bain to scamper to third. Matt Bain got caught in a run-down long enough to plate his brother, advance to second and give Cascade their first lead.

"Little things mean a lot, I think there's an old song that says that," Parker said. "When I first came here, that's the kind of ball that we really taught and preached and played. These kids have learned how to play it. As the program and this team has grown, they've become better hitters, but it's always in our back pocket. It's an ally that we can go to with playing small ball and doing the little things we need to do to score runs if our sticks aren't here that day."

Champion designated hitter Colt Davis singled with one out in the sixth. Pinch runner Tyler Bowen scored on Zack Hill's infield hit for the game's final tally.

A throw gets away from Cascade's Justin Bryant as MTC's Logan Siler slides in safely. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Siler was the losing pitcher.

The Orange and Black head to Lynchburg for a non-district contest versus Moore County on Friday at 4.

"(We) just need to focus on the task at hand," Parker said in expectation of avoiding a letdown. "We're trying to do something that no Cascade team has ever done and go a long way."