Knights down Ensworth to win series

NASHVILLE The Pope John Paul II High baseball team rebounded from Friday evening’s loss to visiting Ensworth with a 6-3 victory on the Tigers’ home field on Saturday afternoon to win the three-game series.

Knight senior Dalton Heath tossed a complete-game shutout in Thursday evening’s series opener, a 4-0 win at Ensworth.

On Saturday, PJP II (16-12 overall, 11-4 in the Division II-Class AA East/Middle Region) scored the first five runs.

Knight senior Ryan Hatten singled in a run in the three-run third inning, followed by junior C.J. Laws’ sacrifice fly.

Then, PJP II junior Pace Dempsey singled in two runs in the fourth inning.

An error allowed Jeff Valera to score the final run for the Knights in the fifth inning.

The Knights finished with 13 hits, with sophomore Jake Rucker providing three of those. Hatten and junior teammate Jack Shuttleworth had two hits each.

PJP II sophomore Matt Steidl pitched the first six innings to improve his record to 6-2, allowing two earned runs on six hits while issuing one base on balls and striking out four hitters.

Junior Ben Brooks came on to toss a scoreless seventh and earn the save, walking one hitter while striking out one.

Entering this weekend’s final series against first-place McCallie (13-2), the Knights are in second place, three games ahead of third-place Brentwood Academy (11-7). PJP II can win the Division II-Class AA East/Middle Region title with a sweep and can clinch second place and a first-round bye in the playoffs with one win in the series. However, the Knights can fall to third place and thus have to play an opening-round series in the playoffs if McCallie sweeps PJP II.