CEDAR BLUFF – Cedar Bluff baseball teams of the past have had an uncanny knack of rallying when the chips are down.

The 2021 Tigers are no exception.

Down five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to area rival Gaylesville, Cedar Bluff scored four runs in the inning to make it a one-run game, then won it in the seventh after four consecutive Trojan errors that allowed Bucky Leek to score the winning run on an errant throw by catcher Mike Reynolds in a wild 8-7 game.

With two outs, Leek reached base after he beat out an errant throw from third on a grounder. That allowed second baseman Jared Dasher to score, trimming Gaylesville’s lead to a run at 7-6. Dasher reached on a walk with one out.

Catcher Preston Burt scored the tying run on an error at short on a pop up by Jacob Burleson. Burt also reached on an error at short earlier in the inning with two outs.

After Gaylesville coach Kyle Garmon took time out to calm the Trojans down, Leek came over to Cedar Bluff coach Jim Nelson to talk strategy as well.

“Bucky said ‘Coach, I’m going to score,'” Nelson said. “That’s just Bucky. He’s a competitor. He hates to lose, and he found a way to get the job done.

“He went hard. It helps with the game being tied. He could gamble a little bit. With the game on the line in a high-pressure situation, Bucky was looking to make a play. It ended up the ball bounced and worked in our favor.”

“I was just thinking we can’t give up,” said Leek, who stole third and came home after Reynolds tried to gun him out on a throw that sailed past third and into the left field corner. “My goal was just to keep fighting and be the person everyone can count on, just any possible way I could score a run. I knew we could do it.”

“There’s no other way of saying it. We choked,” Garmon said. “We had them. I thought we were the better baseball team today. I’m not saying we’re the better baseball team overall, but today I thought we were better. I don’t know how many unearned runs they had, but no doubt most of them were unearned.

“The first five innings, I think we had only one error, then we had about six in the last two. That’s the way the baseball gods line things up. Whoever makes the most errors is probably going to lose, but we almost won despite that.”

As Garmon said, things got off to a good start for the Trojans (1-6, 0-3 Class 1A, Area 12). Sophomore pitcher JJ Yarbrough held the Tigers (3-4, 3-1) scoreless through three innings and had the lead in the top of the fourth when the Trojan offense manufactured a pair of runs with two outs.

Reynolds doubled to right off Cedar Bluff starter Burleson, then scored on designated hitter Braden Sharp’s single to left. Center fielder Tanner Eads followed with a bloop single to right to score Sharp to give the Trojans a 2-0 advantage.

Cedar Bluff got a run back in the bottom half of the inning. Third baseman Kaden Pack singled home Corey Teague, who also singled earlier in the inning.

But the Trojans countered with three more runs in the top of the fifth to chase Burleson from the mound. Shortstop Kyler Bradley and left fielder DJ Lee posted back-to-back doubles to left, then first baseman Briley Mitchell blasted a two-run homer to left to put Gaylesville out in front 5-1.

The Trojans tacked on another run in the top of the sixth following a Sharp double down the left field line and a Gage White grounder to short.

Then Cedar Bluff began its rally. The Tigers sent 10 batters to the plate off Trojan reliever Tyler Bentheimer and scored four runs (two unearned). They completed the rally in the seventh off another Trojan reliever Bradley.

“We talked about after the Spring Garden game making somebody else beat you – not giving them walks, making them hit the ball, making them make plays. We did a better job of that tonight,” Nelson said. “Our guys just kept fighting and found a way.”

Mitchell and Sharp led the Trojan offense with a pair of hits apiece. Mitchell drove in three runs. Bradley suffered the loss after working the seventh. He gave up a walk with two strikeouts.

Pack and center fielder Eli McFry led the Tigers with two hits apiece. Left fielder Hagen Stallings was hit by pitches twice. He also added a single. Teague picked up the win in relief of Burleson after working 2 2/3 innings. He had four strikeouts. Burleson finished with six strikeouts.

The two teams play each other again on April 9.