Wartburg Bulldogs Advance to Region 2-A Baseball Finals
By Terry Futrell
In a close game that was essentially a pitching duel, the Wartburg Central High School Bulldogs came from behind to defeat the Tellico Plains Bears 5-3 in the opening round of Region 2-A competition Monday evening. While Tellico Plains outhit the Bulldogs 10-6, the advantage went to Wartburg pitcher Caleb Constant in two key stats. Constant walked only two Tellico Plains batters while striking out eight. Tellico Plains pitchers walked six Bulldogs and struck out six. The Bulldogs also had the advantage in the number of fielding errors, committing only two compared to four for the Bears.
The game was scoreless through the first two and one-half innings, with the Bears hitting two random singles and Wartburg chalking up one single. In the bottom of the third inning, the Bulldogs managed to put an offensive sequence together that resulted in one point on the board. Colby Justes singled on a line drive to right field, but was tagged out trying to steal second. Caleb McCarty drew a walk, followed by Caleb Constant striking out. With two outs, Jeremiah Davis drew a walk and the Bulldogs had runners on first and second. Trevor Hill hit a fly ball to the center fielder, who committed a costly error that allowed Hill on base and scored McCarty. The inning closed with Wartburg leading 1-0.
The Bears came charging back in the top of the fourth, hitting four consecutive singles followed by a sacrifice bunt. The bears scored two runs, taking the lead over Wartburg 2-1.
After a walk by Andrew McPeters in the bottom of the fourth, Elijah Langley and Michael Davis both struck out. With two outs, Colby Justes hit a hard infield grounder and reached base due to an error by the Bears. Tanner Johnson, a courtesy runner for McPeters, advanced to third. Caleb McCarty stepped up in a big way, pounding a line drive to left field, scoring both Johnson and Justes. Caleb Constant followed with a single on a hard ground ball to left, scoring McCarty. The bears finally managed the third out when Jeremiah Davis flied out to center field. The Bulldogs regained the lead 4-2.
Tellico put another run on the board in the top of the fifth, hitting two singles and closing the gap to 4-3. Constant recorded two strikeouts in the inning.
Wartburg upped the score to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Justes led off with a ground ball single to center field. McCarty followed with a ground ball that scored Justes, thanks to an error by the Bears third baseman.
In the top of the seventh, the first two Bears batters grounded out to Wartburg third baseman Jeremiah Davis. With the count 3-2 on the third batter, pitcher Caleb Constant reached his maximum allowable pitch count and was relieved by Patrick Lester. The batter walked, followed by a single on a fly ball to left field, putting Bears runners on first and second. The next batter popped up to Davis at third base, ending the game with a Wartburg 5-3 victory and berths in the Region 2-A finals and sectionals. The loss ended the season for the Bears.
Wartburg will host Harriman in the Region 2-A finals on Wednesday evening in a rematch of last week’s district championship game.
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