Gavin Brewer of Farragut Baseball. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
In a Farragut’s lineup saturated with college talent, perhaps senior catch Gavin Brewer doesn’t always garner the spotlight like most. After all, Farragut has four starters who bat better than .430 on the season.
But Brewer certainly showed what his bat could do Tuesday and grabbed some limelight along the way.
With the Admirals locked in a tie game with Beech in the first round of the Class 4A State Tournament, Brewer belted a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning that ultimately catapulted Farragut to an 11-5 victory at host-site Siegel High School.
Brewer is a Cincinnati signee and finished the day 1 for 3, helping Farragut (37-5) collect 11 hits. He went 3 for 3 with four RBIs in the final game of the sectional series.
“Gavin Brewer is a special baseball player. He’s going to play at a high level for a very long time,” Farragut coach Matt Buckner said. “He has unbelievable ability behind the plate and he got a massive hit for us right there.
“That was awesome to see. He’s really been working hard on his swing, and he’s really put together two or three or four games in a row where he’s been really awesome. That was awesome right there. Great moment for a great kid who’s worked extremely hard to get in the position he’s in.”
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Landis Davila, Jake Merrick and Brennon Seigler had two-hit days for the Farragut offense.
Davila, Lukas Buckner and Aidan Flagg each had an RBI in the bottom of the fifth that helped put Beech away. And all three of those runs came with two outs.
“I tell our guys a lot, ‘The team that gets the most two-out hits wins,'” Coach Buckner said. “We got a bunch of two-out hits.”
“Maybe our pitching wasn’t quite where it needed to be today, but that’s OK,” Buckner added. “That’s just the way a good team works. Sometimes the pitching carries you. Sometimes the hitting carries you. Today, we were able to put some great at-bats together and today we still won by six.”
Michael Delph got the start for Farragut but lasted 1 2/3 innings before Buckner called on Braylon Hall to stop Beech’s progress. The Bucs (25-15) had scored two in the first and another in the second.
Hall went 3 2/3 innings. Cole Draper worked the final 1 2/3.
“Braylon did what Braylon does,” Buckner said. “He comes in and saves us, consistently. His whole career he’s done that. Awesome job by him.”
Eli Evans hit his team-leading 12th home run in Farragut’s four-run first inning.
The two-time defending state champion Admirals have now won 20 consecutive games.
They’ll look to extend that streak at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday against either Clarksville or Siegel.