How Cannon County baseball made program history with first TSSAA state tournament berth
Cannon County's baseball team has made history.
And it means a little more to eighth-year coach Colin Jones.
The Lions have reached Spring Fling for the first time in program history, earning a trip to next week's Class 2A state tournament with a 2-0 sectional series win (11-5, 16-6) over Cascade Wednesday evening.
"I don't even know if it's hit me yet," said Jones, a 2011 Cannon County graduate who played both baseball and basketball for the Lions. "I looked at our record before regions and we were four games under .500. That's one thing this went went on all year ... nobody expected us to get here, but we knew how good we could be."
Jones played for Cannon County during lean years for baseball. He had four different head coaches in four years. When he took the head coaching position in 2016 he said there was a "four-foot tree on the pitcher's mound" of the Lions' home field, which is located in town off campus.
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"It's a pride thing," Jones said. "With our field being on the main highway, we wanted it to look nice and fix up the facilities and other numerous things. People are taking pride in it. Last night (at Cascade), we had three times the number of fans there. I had to take a walk and take it all in. People were supporting us.
"Everybody knows Cannon County is a basketball school. But everyone showed up for our (sectional) baseball games. It was awesome."
Cannon County (17-16-1) had to beat some heavyweights to reach what was also their first sectional appearance. The Lions defeated both defending 2A champ Watertown and a tough Smith County team to advance by finishing second in the region after a championship loss to Watertown.
"We had an up-and-down year," Jones said. "It started well, then we hit a stretch where we blew six straight games that we had the lead going into the seventh. Last night we finally made it over .500 for the first time in over a month."
The Lions have also played through key injuries, including senior catcher Alex Hill and junior pitcher and ace A.J. Armstrong, who pitched sparingly (shoulder) until the postseason.
Despite the injury, Armstrong has been the team's top hitter all season, including a big day Wednesday, combining to go 5-for-7 with a homer and six RBIs. He enters the state with a team-leading .452 average with 10 doubles, a triple, four homers, 57 runs and 20 RBIs.
Seniors Ethan Powell (.289 average and has played every position) and Gaige Turner (.324 average, three homers, 23 RBIs) also have been huge for the Lions. Sophomore Ben Kauffman has a team-leading 48 RBIs to go along with a .301 average, nine doubles and four homers.
"When we started getting (healthy) guys back, that was a turning point," Jones said. "We kind of hit the reset button. We've clicked and turned it on."
The Class 2A state tournament will be held at Riverdale and Stewarts Creek. First-round games are scheduled for Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: TSSAA baseball: Cannon County reaches state tournament for first time
