By Michael Lindsay
The Cookeville Cavaliers finished off the sweep of District 7-4A foe Smyrna Saturday afternoon as they defeated the Bulldogs, 10-5.
Cookeville was originally scheduled to host Smyrna on Tuesday before three rainouts pushed their home contest to Saturday afternoon.
Cavalier junior pitcher Sam Snyder earned the victory as he pitched one and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball. Snyder didn’t allow a baserunner during his appearance. Andrew Corbeil closed the contest, striking out four batters in three innings.
“Sam and Andrew came in and did what we needed them to do,” said Cookeville head coach Derek Bush. “We played good defense behind them and kept extending our lead once we got it, and I’m proud of the guys for that.”
Cookeville racked up 14 hits in the victory led by Jackson Jones, who went 3-3 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored. Ty Harrison also hit a solo homer while Tyler Smith scored three runs.
The Cavaliers jumped on Smyrna with four runs in the bottom of the second inning as a two-out double by Jones scored Avyn Maddux and Smith followed by a Corbeil double to score Jones and Harrison, giving Cookeville a 4-0 lead.
Smyrna answered in the top of the third as they scored five runs to take a 5-4 lead.
“We’ve been talking about adversity and not getting too overwhelmed with the moment,” said Bush. “These guys are different and have a lot of competitive spirit.”
The back-and-forth continued into the bottom of the fourth inning as a pair of back-t0-back home runs by Jackson Jones and Ty Harrison scored three runs as the Cavaliers retook a 7-5 lead.
“That’s a freshman and sophomore going back to back in a big moment,” said Bush. “One put us up, and one extended our lead. It speaks a lot to those guys.”
Cookeville tacked on three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 10-5 lead before Corbeil struck out two in the top of the seventh inning to preserve his team’s 10-5 victory.
The Cavaliers are scheduled to face LaVergne in District 7-4A action on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
