CHAPEL HILL, Tenn. – The Cascade Champions (5-2, 0-1) opened District 9-AA play on the road against Chapel Hill (7-6, 1-0) on Monday night, suffering a 5-1 defeat. 

Rockets’ ace, Tyler Baxter, pitched brilliantly for the hosts, throwing 6.1 innings and giving up just one earned run on five hits and two walks while striking out 13 batters on 115 pitches. He did give up a solo home run to Jayden Hathcock, his counterpart on the mound, in the fourth inning, but Baxter helped strand nine Champions’ on the basepaths compared to just two for Chapel Hill.

Hathcock pitched the complete 6.0 innings, giving up just three earned runs on six hits and a walk while striking out eight on 94 pitches. 

To start off, Baxter was able to strand a pair of runners in the top of the first before taking a leadoff walk in the home half. Branham Haynes doubled Baxter to third before an RBI-groundout and an RBI-single in back-to-back ABs drove home Baxter and Haynes to put the Rockets in front, 2-0.

Cascade nearly cut the lead in half in the top of the second inning, but Jaxson Milliken was tagged out at the plate to end the threat. Hathcock posted another zero in the home half, and then Cascade once again put a runner on third after Wickey Parker singled Childress over. However, Baxter once again found a way out of the jam, working a seven-pitch full-count strikeout against Thomas Demartelaere to end the inning. 

Chapel Hill finally added a third run in the bottom of the third from a two-out RBI-single by Kason Fuller. 

To lead off the fourth inning, Hathcock hammered his second home run of the season to right field to end the shutout, cutting the Rockets’ lead to 3-1. Hathcock then struck out the side to give his offense a chance going into the fifth inning. 

Once again, Cascade found themselves with a runner in scoring position after Jordan Childress lined a one-out double to left field. After Xyakaiah Dixon drew a walk, Baxter once again buckled down and wiggled his way out of a jam by striking out Parker and Demartelaere in order.

In the bottom of the fifth, Chapel Hill took advantage of a one-out error to tack on a pair of insurance runs and grow their lead to the final margin, 5-1. 

Jayden Hathcock led Cascade both at the plate and on the mound, finishing 2-3 with a solo home run. Jordan Childress got on base three times, finishing 1-2 at the plate with a double and two HBPs.

Cascade returns home for game two of the series against the Rockets on Tuesday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m.