Cascade coach Chris Parker and Christian Edmondson spint onto the field in celebration following their dramatic victory. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Simply being invited to the Warrior Spring Classic is quite the accomplishment for a Class A school in the middle of nowhere like Cascade.

The gauntlet represented by the 36-team field appears insurmountable. However, the action spread from Thursday though Sunday and across 11 different schools is quite the venue for college and pro scouts and round robin play gives coaches a chance to toss lesser heralded kids into the fire and see how they come out.

After a pair of losses to LaVergne and another to Loretto in their opening contests of the Classic in recent years, prognosticators gave Cascade little chance to right the ship versus Class AAA foe Blackman on the home field of the Blaze.

The showdown between Champion pitcher Josh Brown and Blaze first baseman Jon Sisco with the game on the line was a microcosm of the matchup between the teams themselves. A wiry, young lefty still looking to necessitate his first razor trying to squeeze an out of a Blackman's largest uniform and biggest stick, who had already belted a long three-run homer in the first inning and one-hopped the fence for a double in the third.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Sisco pulled a scud missile down the left field line. The white blur looked like it might fall in, but a hard-charging Matt Bain dove and smothered the pearl with cowhide. Shortly thereafter, Bain was mobbed by his Cascade teammates as they celebrated their 9-8 victory.

Tyler Bowen rounds third on his way to scoring one of his two runs. He also had three hits. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

"We might have built it up more than it is," Champion coach Chris Parker said. "We've come into this tournament and haven't had a very good showing in the first game the last few years. We just wanted to prove we belong to the whole baseball community.

"We're trying to build in a tournament atmosphere and get better and better."

The Sisco bomb contributed to the Champs' 4-0 deficit after just one inning of play, but they shrugged it off in fine fashion in their next plate appearance, sending 10 batters to the dish with six of them crossing home. Doubles by MoMo Stewart and Tyler Bowen coupled with singles via Bain, Josh Brown and Justin Bryant contributed to the rally.

Bowen led off the third with another base knock and he scored on an RBI single by Brown to put them up 6-4.

In the seventh, Bain drew a walk and stole second base to lead things off. An out later, following Stewart receiving his second intentional pass, Corey Mullins dropped down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Bain with the difference-making insurance run.

A pair of infield errors and a botched double-play ball gave Blackman new life in their final at-bat before Bain's big grab.

"We made some great plays in the ballgame," Parker said. "Blackman made some great plays. They're an excellent coached ball team. We made a great play right there at the end.

"They're great kids and just a lot of fun to coach, and they played real hard."

Pitcher Jay Bishop kept the Blaze hitters off balance while his team caught up in the scoring column. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Zack Hill started and got the win. Jay Bishop kept the Blaze off balance in his 2 2/3 innings of relief. Justin Bryant and Kyle Clanton bridged the gap to Brown getting the final out for the save.

Bowen finished with three of nine hits for the Champs (8-1). Brown totaled two himself.

Matt Ford and Kirkland Wheeler had two hits for the Blaze.

The Orange and Black are back on Bedford County soil later today when they take on east Tennessee visitor Harriman at 4:30 at Shelbyville Central High.

On Saturday, the local boys return to Murfreesboro to battle Hendersonville at 10 a.m. and then Clarksville Northwest at 12:30 p.m. at Siegel High.