CHAPEL HILL, Tenn. – After jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the first two innings, the No. 5 seeded Community Vikings (5-24, 0-8) held on for dear life to close out No. 4 seed Chapel Hill (15-10, 3-5), 7-6, and end the Rockets' season in Monday’s play-in game.

“We told ‘em the whole year that we get 30 games to learn,” Vikings’ Head Coach Parker Gunn said postgame, “It’s a tournament sport now, and our goal was to just get better and better and better throughout the year, and ultimately, we are still a young team that is learning how to win ball games. We were in a lot of district games that we put ourselves in a position to win and we just couldn’t quite close it out, so tonight was a fitting night for them. The message we’ve been preaching is we just have to get it right in one night, and we finally put it together for one night.”

Community got to Rockets’ starter Travis Porter early and often, knocking him from the game with nobody out in the second inning

Porter hit Powers to start the game before Brody Armstrong’s chopper to third was sailed over the first baseman’s head, allowing Armstrong to reach safely. Haley’s grounder led to the force at third for the first out of the inning, but then Masyn Hill’s line drive into left on a 2-1 count drove home Armstrong to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Dylan Markum followed that up with a ground-rule double to drive home Haley from second and move Hill to third with one out and a 2-0 lead.

After Gentry made a nice over-the-shoulder catch on the edge of the grass in shallow left, Isaiah Beech worked a full-count walk to load the bases for Ollie Blanton. Blanton came through with a sharp grounder into left to drive home Markum from third to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead heading into the home half.

Wes Haley got the start on the mound for Community, and he delivered a quick zero to bring the Vikings’ hot bats back to the plate.

In the top of the second, Ty Wood worked a leadoff walk to turn the lineup over against Porter. Wood stole second to get into scoring position for Josh Powers, who delivered an RBI-double into left-center field to give the visitors a 4-0 advantage and knock Porter from the game.

Chapel Hill brought in Reid Gentry from shortstop to pitch, he was greeted by a perfectly-placed Brody Armstrong bunt down the third-base line that resulted in a base hit. Armstrong swiped second, and then Wes Haley drove home Powers on a sacrifice-fly into center for a 5-0 lead.

“I think the start we had began in the preparation,” Gunn explained, “We have been talking about gaining confidence [at the plate], and gaining confidence is not just believing in yourself, it’s believing in your preparation. We spent two hours before traveling over here of just guys locked in, multiple rounds of BP and working on hammering fastballs early in counts. I’m super proud of them.”

Masyn Hill was retired via strikeout, and then Dylan Markum came through with a towering blast to left field for a 2-run home run to take a commanding 7-0 lead heading into the bottom of the second.

“Dylan [Markum] has such great hands,” Gunn said, “We always keep preaching to him that we want to attack that ball out front because he’s such a good pull-side hitter, and he finally got a hold of one. At first I thought it might be a can of corn but the higher it went the more I thought the wind would start to aid it, and sure enough it ended up near the buses, so I was tickled pink.”

The Vikings did not score again as Gentry settled down for the final 6.0 innings, but the Rockets plated four runs in the bottom of the third to trim the lead to 7-4 as well as knock Haley from the game. Haley’s line finished at 2.2 innings pitched after giving up four earned runs on four hits and five walks on 64 pitches. Gunn responded with Logan Reed, who had gotten the start in Community’s most recent district matchup.

Reed gave up one run in the fourth, and then posted zeros in both the fifth and sixth innings. In the sixth, Reed worked around runners on second and third with less than two outs, setting up the enormous seventh inning.

“Logan has gotten better and better and better every time he’s taken the mound,” Gunn said, “At the start of the year, he played basketball, but we knew he had good stuff. We just had to work him in throughout the season, and every time he’s taken the bump, he’s taken another step forward. Even in the last district series, we gave him the ball for game two for his first district series start of the season, and he gave Cascade a heck of a fight. Coming into this game, we knew we were going to throw the kitchen sink at them [Chapel Hill], and we threw the best two guys that we felt like we had today.”

Despite giving up one run in the seventh on an infield single, Reed left the tying run stranded at third base after getting Nolan Hutton to pop out to first base, ensuring a massive celebration ensued for the team clad in purple and gold.

“The key for us is just learning that belief,” Gunn concluded, “Seeing the program, and seeing some of the guys that had left, when I got here for the first time, they had some really wilted spirits. Throughout the year they’ve had to gain belief, and despite struggling to get wins against really good teams, we’ve kept letting them know that we have nothing to lose. I personally love having expectations. The players want to have some expectations on ‘em too, but for right now, we’re just having fun knowing we have nothing to lose and we’re going to be a tough out because we’re playing that way.”

Reed’s line finished showing 4.1 innings pitched, giving up two earned runs on two hits and three walks with five strikeouts on 74 pitches.

At the plate for the Vikings, Powers led off going 1-for-2 with an RBI, a double, and a walk, Armstrong was 1-for-3, and Haley finished 0-for-4 with an RBI. Hill was 1-for-4 with an RBI, Markum went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, a home run, and a double, and Blanton finished 1-for-3 with an RBI. 

Community advances to the double-elimination round, and sets its eyes on No. 1 seed Loretto. The Vikings travel to Loretto on Thursday with first-pitch set for 6:00 p.m.