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BY ETHAN STONE
MURFREESBORO — Farragut sophomore pitcher Braylon Hall celebrated prematurely Wednesday night, thinking he had the final strikeout for a win on Day 2 of the Class 4A state tournament.
The full count on the scoreboard dropped to even zeros as he watched the second Collierville batter of the frame jog to first base on a walk.
Farragut pitcher Braylon Hall. (Photo by Danny Parker)
Hall had felt what seemed like every emotion across the past three hours. The three-run deficit and rain delay was in the past, though – and all he needed was one more out to put Farragut in excellent position to play for the Class 4A championship on Friday.
With two men on, Hall loaded the count again. He gathered and delivered the payoff pitch, which missed the barrel of Collierville’s Joey Caruso for the final out.
And according to Farragut head coach Matt Buckner, the Admirals’ 7-6 win over Collierville (38-10) doesn’t happen without Braylon Hall on the mound in that situation.
“Braylon, man, he was awesome. That was great, he was fantastic,” Buckner said. “That right there was a pretty tough position, it takes a kid with a lot of confidence to be able to do that.”
Hall and other Admirals teammates huddled under the dugout packed like sardines for 15 minutes as they waited for rain to pass. It played a major role in slowing Collierville’s building momentum, according to Hall.
But it made his life harder as well. Hall could hardly grip the ball, and felt his go-to curveball was unusable for his situation.
“I just knew I had to work down in the zone, just get my changeup working,” Hall said. “The ball was slick and I knew I couldn’t throw my curveball. I told my coach that and he was just like, ‘fastball, changeup that’s all you’re doing’ and I got it done.”
Hall escorted Farragut (28-11-1) across the finish line, but it was Tennessee baseball commit Brennon Seigler who kickstarted the bats when the Admirals started cold.
Seigler drove in three runs in his 3-for-4 performance, getting three straight hits after striking out in the first inning.
It was Seigler who put the Admirals on top for the first time with an RBI single in the third inning. Then, with two outs and runners on second and third, he smacked a two-run RBI single to left field to up the Farragut lead to four runs.
“Brennon got some really big hits, we needed every single last hit we got,” Buckner said. “That’s how we’ve been here lately. Hanging on by a thread, but we are still out here hanging on.”
Buckner isn’t surprised his team is holding on to win tight games. They won a close one in the first round.
For Buckner, it’s only a matter of time before Farragut pulls off something special.
They’ve got something that puts them above any competition.
“Tradition,” Buckner said. “Tradition, that’s what we have. Tradition, and we’ve got a lot of kids that want to win. They put a lot into it, I’m not saying other people don’t, but our kids grind really hard. I know what they do and it’s a whole lot. I’m proud of them.”
UP NEXT
Farragut’s win against the Dragons will pit them against the winner of Collierville and Riverdale, which starts at 10 A.M. CT at Oakland High School.
GAME 1
Farragut’s first-round game Tuesday night started late because of the lengthy game before it and Farragut’s game was halted in the bottom of the third inning because of inclement weather.
Perhaps that turned out to be a good thing for the Admirals. They trailed Hendersonville, 3-2, at the time of the game’s suspension.
Shortly after play resumed Wednesday, Farragut’s Eli Evans cranked out a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth for a 6-4 Admirals lead.
Jett Johnston and Jake Merrick added solo shots in the sixth inning for an 8-5 lead. Johnston’s bomb was his fourth in a five-game span.
Hendersonville plated two runs in the seventh due to Farragut errors and closed the gap to 8-7. But Eli Evans struck out Hendersonville’s Torin Baker — the No. 2 hitter in the Commandos’ lineup — for the final out.