By Michael Lindsay
Two of the Upper Cumberland’s top baseball programs met on the diamond Wednesday afternoon as Upperman held off a 7th-inning Smith County rally to win 6-5.
“You’ve got to expect a well-coached team like that to not give up,” said Upperman head coach Wes Shanks. “They’re one of the best teams in 2A, and that’s why you play teams like that.”
The Bees led 6-3 entering the seventh inning before Wyatt Claywell hit a 2-run triple with two outs in the top of the seventh.
With the tying run at third, Upperman’s Caden Shanks shut the door on an Owl comeback with a strikeout to seal the 6-5 victory.
“You can’t let your frustrations get the best of you,” Shanks said. “Caden stayed calm and collected. We gave up two runs, but still got the win. That was a tough position, but sometimes you’ve got to bare down and get it done.”
Upperman pitcher Braden Williams recorded the win as he struck out 7 and surrendered 7 hits over 6 innings. Caden Shanks picked up his first save of the year with two strikeouts in the seventh.
Smith County got on the board first with 2 runs in the top of the first inning as a Bennett Gammon single drove in Claywell along with a Kaden Powell single to score Hudson Graber.
Upperman responded with a strong bottom half of the first as the Bees scored 5 runs to take a 5-2 first inning lead over Smith County.
Back-to-back singles by Tyler Jared and Alec Wilson tied the game at 2 before a Rookie Williams grounder and Williams sacrifice fly put Upperman ahead 4-2. Allison found his way home via an error to close out the first with the Bees ahead 5-2.
“That’s similar to our last game at Sparta, Shanks said. “Teams are getting out on us. They came out and scored two on us, and we had the composure to respond with 5.”
Upperman tacked on a run in the bottom of the second via an Eli Huddleston grounder to that allowed Caden Shanks to reach home on an error to give the Bees a 6-2 lead after two innings.
After giving up two runs in the first, Williams pitched 4 shutout innings before giving up one run in the sixth.
“Sometimes the longer a pitcher goes, the better he gets,” coach Shanks said. “He honed in that second through fifth inning and was really in a groove. I’m proud of what he did.
“Tyler Jared was back there blocking things up, which gives him confidence to throw his stuff because some of it is nasty.”
Smith County’s 6th-inning run came via a Ty Martin double to center to score Graber, making the score 6-3 entering the 7th.
Smith County pulled within a run via Claywell’s 7th inning triple before Shanks shut the door to seal Upperman’s 6-5 win.
“We told the guys to be proud of that win,” coach Shanks said. “We knew they weren’t going to go away.”
Up next, Upperman hits the road to Gordonsville on Thursday while Smith County travels to DeKalb County.
