Peabody baseball romps despite two-hour delay

MURFREESBORO — There were nearly two hours between the third and fourth innings during the Class A state tournament elimination game between Trenton Peabody and North Greene on Wednesday.

The Golden Tide had a 12-run lead, and the umpire crew said it was time to come off the field because of an approaching storm and possible lightning in the distance, which is an automatic 30-minute delay.

“We were playing well, but you can’t control the weather or the decisions the officials make,” said Peabody junior Hunter Hudson. “You just have to go play when it’s time to.”

The Golden Tide had done plenty of playing when it was time in the 16-1 victory. Six runs in the first inning and three in each of the next two made it look like Peabody would stick around another round at Spring Fling.

The question was would they continue that stellar play. The answer came quickly as Peabody put four more runs on the board, highlighted by a two-run home run by Ethan Richardson.

“He gave me a fastball on the outside corner, and I just put the bat on it and tried to bring it around,” Richardson said.

Richardson has been hitting the ball well all week. He said the players from Peabody wanted to make sure the delay and the noticeable drop in temperature that came with the weather didn’t affect their play and give North Greene a chance at a monumental comeback.

“Having that 12-run lead did give us a chance to relax some, but you never want to relax too much because you’re still playing a game of baseball,” Richardson said. “We still needed to hit, pitch and play defense to come out with the win no matter how much we were leading by.”

North Greene did get one run across the plate in the bottom of the fourth, but it wasn’t much compared to the 16 Peabody had already scored.

“We just had to keep our focus and know we weren’t done yet,” Richardson said. “Because we weren’t,

“And even though we won, we’re not done. We’re here to win a state championship.”

Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.

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