CEDAR BLUFF – The Cedar Bluff Tigers had to hold off Gaylesville in their Class 1A, Area 12 baseball series opening game on Thursday.
Things weren’t quite so close in the second game on Friday at Cedar Bluff, thanks in part to the pitching of Jacob Burleson.
Burleson tossed a one-hitter through six innings on Friday with 11 strikeouts. He actually had a no-hitter going through 5 1/3 innings before Trojan third baseman Kuper Bradley broke it up with a single to right.
By that point, it was too little too late for the Trojans in a 12-2 decision.
It was the second straight day Burleson started on the mound. He was pulled before he threw 25 pitches in game one of the series on Thursday so he could be used on Friday.
The strategy by Tiger head coach Jim Nelson paid off.
“He does a great job any time he’s on the mound of giving us a chance,” Nelson said of Burleson. “He’s fought through a lot, faced a lot of adversity. Whenever he’s on the mound he’s going to compete.
“Yesterday (Thursday) we jumped out and they (Gaylesville) pulled their starter before he threw 25 pitches, so we pulled him before he (Burleson) threw 25 pitches. It just turned into kind of like the county tournament game. Everything that could happen happened, but at the end we were able to hang on and pull through.”
And because Cedar Bluff (11-5) was able to pull through on Thursday, that set the stage for Burleson to start again in game two.
“I was feeling it yesterday (Thursday) when we jumped out on them. Our guys hit pretty good, and Coach Nelson just asked me ‘Hey, do you want me to pull you so you can start game two?’ I was like ‘Yeah Coach, we can do that,,” Burleson said. “We just came out today and battled our butts off.
“We didn’t let up like we did last game. We got up big on them and then we just kind of hit cruise control on Thursday, but we really focused on adding runs every inning (on Friday).”
As Burleson said, the Tigers scored in every inning except the bottom of the third on Friday.
Back-to-back doubles third baseman Hagen Stallings and catcher Preston Burt led to two runs. The Tigers added another run in the second, three in the fourth, four in the fifth, and two more in the sixth for the final.
Shortstop Hunter Stallings ended the game by scoring on a wild pitch from third base. He reached on a single to right with one out and worked his around the bases.
“I challenged them to keep adding and not get complacent, keep the foot on the gas and add some runs,” Nelson said. “We did that today. They responded fairly well and I’m happy. They did what we had to do.”
Hunter Stallings, Bucky Leek, Burt and Kaden Pack each had a pair of hits for the Tigers.
Hayes Garmon walked twice for the Trojans. Kyler Bradley, Hunter Allmond, Jacob Gordon and Jeremiah Yarbrough each drew a walk.
John Hendon suffered the loss for Gaylesville after pitching 2 1/3 innings.