By Michael Lindsay
It came down to the final at-bat, but the Smith County Owls are state tournament bound following Thursday afternoon’s 1-0 victory at East Nashville in the Class 2A baseball sectional round.
Smith County’s Riley Martin broke a scoreless tie in extra innings as a walk-off triple scored Cole Hackett to give the Owls a 1-0 victory and berth in next week’s Class 2A state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Starting pitcher Bennet Gammon and Wyatt Claywell combined for an 8-inning no-hitter on Thursday as Gammon struck out 11 batters while walking 3 in 7 innings of work before Claywell struck out 2 of the 3 he faces in the 8th inning.
Their 2024 trip to the state tournament under first-year head coach Malone Smith will be the fourth in school history and first since 2018.
The Class 2A state baseball tournament is scheduled for May 21-24 at Riverdale and Stewarts Creek high schools. More tournament information, including game times and opponents, will be shared when available.
