Tuscola opens conference play with sweep of Franklin

Mar. 15—Tuscola baseball opened its Mountain 7 slate this week with a two-game set against Franklin.

After winning the opener on the road 7-1 on Tuesday, the Mountaineers returned home Thursday night where they looked even better — knocking off the Panthers 10-0 in five innings.

"We're starting to clean some stuff up," Tuscola head coach Zack Shepherd said. "We've been good on the mound, good defensively, all year, but we were kind of struggling at the plate. Early, seeing live arms is always key. The last two games this week, we really put complete games together. I'm proud of the guys."

The blowout started early on.

In the bottom of the first, junior Kolt Nelson drew a leadoff walk. The next batter struck out.

Then, Nelson stole second. The throw went into the outfield and moved the junior over to third. A sacrifice fly for sophomore Amos Rich scored Nelson and put the Mountaineers at two outs.

That's when Tuscola began to pour it on.

Junior Evan Conner got on with a single and was followed by junior Tyler Williams, who was hit by a pitch, and senior Noah Stepp, who drew a walk.

Senior Owen Ward drew a bases-loaded walk to score the second run, and then senior Brayden Cockrell grabbed a pair of RBIs on a single.

Sophomore Mason Harrell got in on the fun, as well, with a double that sent two more runs across the plate.

In Nelson's second plate appearance of the first inning, the junior drew a walk. Ball four got away from the catcher, and Harrell found his way across the plate from third.

"It was good because it's the home opener," Shepherd said. "I know their emotions are there. There's nerves. That seven-spot just calms everything."

A big part of the Mountaineers' success came from being patient and taking what the Franklin pitching staff was giving them. Oftentimes, that meant watching pitches go by and taking the walk.

"We've been talking about limiting strikeouts and trying to let people walk us," Shepherd said. "It's not always going to happen, but we can't be afraid to walk."

On the other side of things, Stepp dominated on the mound. Franklin did not get a single baserunner until the top of the fourth after the senior had sat down the first 11 batters in order.

"He was good," Shepherd said. "That's back-to-back good starts for him. His first start was at North Buncombe and then Crest and then tonight, and he's gotten better with each start."

In the bottom of the fourth, Rich extended the lead to 8-0 with a monstrous shot over the wall in left-center field.

"The kid's a special talent," Shepherd said. "He crushed that ball."

In the top of the fifth, Stepp got himself into a little bit of trouble. With just one out, the bases were loaded after the senior plunked three batters.

However, after forcing a pop-out in foul territory and a ground ball to the middle of the infield, he escaped the bases-loaded jam with a goose egg still on the scoreboard.

"That's huge," Shepherd said. "Keeping a zero up is always good too. I'm tickled to death."

In the bottom of the fifth, Tuscola had two runners in scoring position with two outs. The Franklin staff chose to intentionally walk Rich to load the bases.

Conner then drew a traditional walk to score the ninth run of the game. Williams stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and Tuscola needing just one run to end the game early.

But Tuscola wasn't going to be satisfied with just one run. Williams smoked one up the middle, emptying the bases and getting a double for himself.

The hit ended the game due to the 10-run rule.

"We've been preaching stuff for the last couple of years," Shepherd said. "For the younger guys coming up, it's starting to take fruition and they're starting to see the benefits of it. Be aggressive, play baseball the right way, be confident at the plate, play defense and good things will happen. They're starting to see the fruits of their labor."

Tuscola keeps Mountain 7 play rolling next week with a pair of games against North Henderson.

"We've got two more next week and it just continues," Shepherd said. "We can't get too high or too low. Last year, I don't think we came into some conference games with the right mindset, so I challenged them. This week, they did a good job. They came in with a battle mentality, and we were able to get some pretty good wins."