FAYETTEVILLE -- Scrolling through Cascade's baseball schedule before the start of the 2008 season, some fingers may have stopped on April 24 and wondered if seeing Lincoln County under the opponent column was a misprint.

Cascade's Corey Mullins watches the first of his two home runs sail out of the ballpark. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

As the Champions and coach Chris Parker are quickly proving, they'll play anybody anywhere anytime and they aren't walking away from challenges licking their wounds.

The deceptive left arm of Josh Brown and the hot bat of Corey Mullins propelled Cascade to a 4-2 victory over Lincoln County, ranked No. 9 in Class AAA in the last TBCA poll and District 8-AAA regular season champions.

It was their second victory over a formidable Class AAA school in less than a month after the Champs took down host Blackman during the Warrior Classic.

"We're just out there to prove that we're not just a quality Class A club, we're a good baseball team," Parker said. "We're hoping to get some respect throughout the community.

"It was a good ballgame to watch. If you paid your money to get in, I think you got what you deserved."

Mullins got the blood pumping for Cascade (21-4) early with a one-out solo home run over the left-center field fence in the top of the first inning.

Michael Kourtney reached base safely despite striking out in the Falcon half of the second. He scored three batters later on a base hit by Johnathan Reese to tie the game at 1-all.

Champion shortstop MoMo Stewart doubled with two down in the third. A proper read on a ball in the dirt got him safely to third base. Kyle Clanton then drove his teammate home to make it 2-1.

A pair of walks and an RBI single by Timmy Simms brought Lincoln County (20-8) back even with their visitors.

Mullins cranked a hanging curveball down the left field line for his eighth bomb of the year and second of the contest to give Cascade the lead for good in the fifth.

"Corey Mullins is the first one to practice and the last one to leave," Parker said. "He works hard. He's having an outstanding year. He's been a great leader for us, and he's really grown up."

Brown (7-0) took over from there, holding the Falcons to one hit over the final three scoreless frames.

"This is the kind of ballgame that Josh Brown needs to pitch in before we go into tournament play, and he did what we need him to do," Parker said. "He threw strikes, kept them off balance and kept them beating the ball into the ground. We were able to make enough plays to win the ballgame.

"He pitched. He's not a thrower, he's a pitcher."

The junior southpaw finished with eight strikeouts, four walks and six hits allowed.

Lincoln County got the potential tying run on board with two down in their last at-bat but Brown coaxed Kourtney into a groundout to first base to end it.

Reese and Bryan Sharpe tallied a pair of singles apiece. Barrett Sullivan was the losing pitcher.

Cascade plays their last regular season home game tonight against Huntland at 6.