How Eagleville baseball benefits from blowout wins heading into TSSAA playoffs title game
EAGLEVILLE — It's been a while since Eagleville baseball starters have played more than four or five innings in a game.
But they don't mind.
The Eagles (33-5) will be playing for their third consecutive TSSAA state championship Friday after rolling past South Pittsburg 11-1 Thursday in the 1A bracket final.
They will play at 10 a.m. at MTSU's Reese Smith Jr. Field against University School-Johnson City, which defeated McKenzie 5-1.
The two-time defending state champs have won their past six postseason games by the TSSAA mercy rule (10 runs after five innings) and have outscored their three state tournament opponents 44-4.
"Oh yeah . . . it keeps our pitching going and our bats rolling," said Eagleville junior third baseman Brady Burns, who went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI Thursday. "It's a good thing for sure."
Scoring runs at the pace Eagleville has during the postseason is a product of the bottom of the lineup complementing the stars at the top. The bottom four hitters combined to go 3-for-7 with four walks, three runs and four RBIs Thursday.
"They get us back to the top to get things going," Burns said. "I feel like that's been big for us the past week. Hopefully we keep it going tomorrow."
Games being decided that quickly can have a multitude of advantages.
"It's awesome," said Eagleville senior catcher Nathan Brown, who has to squat behind the plate far less. "Knowing you've got aces dialing it up and throwing strikes is great."
Saving pitching during a grueling Spring Fling week is the biggest advantage of the shortened games.
Eagleville baseball will have pick of aces during 1A championship game
Eagleville ace and 1A Mr. Baseball winner Brayden Baker and No. 2 starter Josh Jeffcoat both will be available for Friday's championship game.
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Baker tossed 5⅔ innings, but only 70 pitches, in Tuesday's first-round, 16-1 win over Union City. Jeffcoat was needed for just 49 pitches in a 17-2 win over Oakdale on Wednesday. Eagleville coach Brandon Bassham expects to use both in the championship.
"Best-case scenario, you get Brayden and Josh available tomorrow," Bassham said. "Now we have to make a decision which one to start and which one we're going to bring in. It's hard asking them to go seven innings after already pitching this week."
Baker went 2-for-2 with three runs and an RBI for Eagleville, which has won 16 in a row and 25 of 26. Maddox Bouldin went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Jeffcoat added two hits.
Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at cjoyce@dnj.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: TSSAA baseball playoffs: Eagleville to play for championship again
