By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

JACKSONVILLE – The Cedar Bluff Tigers battled the Spring Garden Panthers at Jacksonville State University’s Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium on Thursday for a spot in the Class 1A baseball playoffs. Both teams had hopes of playing there again a month from now in the state title series, but only the Tigers’ dreams will continue following a 13-7 victory.

Junior lefty Kolwyn Morrison tossed six innings of six-hit ball. He gave up three earned runs and a walk with six strikeouts to help No. 10 Cedar Bluff (14-11) end a two-year playoff drought.

Not bad for a first-year varsity player.

“This is kind of big for me,” Morrison said. “I started off kind of slow and I was nervous at first, but then I got loose and I got used to it and we were doing pretty good. I started pounding the strike zone a lot better.”

First-year Cedar Bluff coach Colby Coursey said Morrison “threw a heck of a game.”

“Kolwyn battled and commanded the strike zone,” Coursey said. “He had a little trouble with his breaking ball for a little bit, but the weather probably had an effect on that.”

Morrison managed to hold the Panthers (7-13) scoreless through three innings. By that point, the Tiger offense had given him a 5-0 lead to work with.

“I wasn’t expecting to see him honestly,” Spring Garden coach Cole Murphy said. “He struggled at times, but he never got too upset. He kept throwing strikes, and their defense played well behind him. Their left fielder (Dylan McDaniel) played great. He made a diving catch. He made some great plays but he was making the routine ones too.

“Cedar Bluff showed up and played great. They came out and hit the ball. One through nine, they all hit the ball really well.”

“Defensively we’ve played really good lately,” Coursey said. “Fundamentally we’ve been really good, really solid. I think everybody swung the bat well today. I know Kaden (Pack) had a big hit. Isaac (Bishop) had a 3-0 count and I gave him the green light and he absolutely nailed one (in the third inning). I thought that was the hit that opened it up for us, especially when they come off the bases loaded with no outs and getting out of that. That was huge there.”

While the Tigers played great, as Murphy and Coursey both said, the Panthers continued their late-season struggles. They committed four errors, walked 11 batters (including four with the bases loaded) and hit another.

“That’s why we’re going home and Cedar Bluff is not,” Murphy said. “Cedar Bluff decided they wanted to show up today and they did a good job. They hit the ball, played defense and threw strikes. We played a little defense, but not a whole lot, and we didn’t hit until the last inning. That’s how we’ve been playing. I’ve been trying to get them out of it, but I haven’t been able to get them out of it. That’s what followed us here today.”

After sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs in the top of the sixth inning, Cedar Bluff held a commanding 12-2 lead.

The Panthers managed to extend the game with a run on a double steal in the bottom half of the inning, but the Tigers got that run back in the top of the seventh to take a 13-3 lead.

Spring Garden tried to make things interesting off Cedar Bluff relievers Caleb Edmondson and Hunter Stallings. The Panthers pushed across four runs, including two on an inside-the-park home run to center field by Connor Bates, but Stallings left the bases loaded by striking out Panther starting pitcher Hays Garmon to end the game – and Spring Garden’s playoff hopes.

Garmon suffered the loss after working 3 1/3 innings. He finished with seven strikeouts.

Grey Simpson and Chapel Pope led the Panthers at the plate. Simpson was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a run and a RBI. Pope was 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run. Zane Edwards and Clayton Sadler both had a hit, a walk and scored two runs apiece. Jake Welsh finished with a hit and a RBI.

Bryson Teague and Warren Wallace both had a pair of hits for the Tigers. One of Teague’s hits was a double. Bishop also doubled, walked twice, was hit by a pitch and drove in three runs. Edmondson doubled, walked twice and drove in a run.

Pack compiled a hit, two walks and three runs. Eli McFry managed a hit, two walks and two runs. Stallings finished with a hit, a walk and a RBI.

“I’ve been on varsity for three years and we’ve never made the playoffs. I really wanted this win,” Teague said. “It means a lot to me. I knew I was going to give it everything I had.”

A season that started at 1-4, the Tigers have now won their last seven games and are playing their best ball heading down the stretch.

“We started the year off kind of rough, but Coach Coursey has done a great job of coaching us this year and turning this program around. I want to thank him for that,” Teague said. “We’ve stuck together. We’ve been a family. We just work hard every day. I’m proud of everybody on our team.”

The two teams finish their series at Cedar Bluff on Friday beginning at 4:30 p.m.