CLARKSVILLE TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville Academy Cougars traveled to Montgomery Central High School for a rematch on the baseball diamond that went down to the wire. The Cougars rallied late in the game, but Montgomery Central two-way player Gabriel Eddington walked it off in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Indians to win the game by a score of 9-8. With the win, MCHS swept Clarksville Academy in a two-game season series.
Early on the game was a low scoring battle, with pitchers Evan Leonard and Dylan Fulton dueling on the mound. Clarksville Academy head coach Dustin Smith was nothing but complimentary on Leonard’s ability to keep them in the game.
“He just went out there and competed tonight,” Smith told Clarksville Now. “He didn’t have his best game, but he gave everything he had and gave us a chance to win at the end.”
However, a cold March night started to take a toll on Leonard, and the Indians offense exploded in the bottom of the fifth inning for five runs, blowing the game wide open. Long-time Montgomery Central head coach Todd Dunn was excited to see his bats heat up after some recent offensive struggles.
“We went down to a tournament this weekend and just didn’t hit very well,” Dunn said. “We’ve been focusing on being aggressive in the box and it’s worked. Some players that have been struggling, they came up with some big hits tonight.”
Entering the seventh, Montgomery Central was up 8-2, and was poised to shut the door on any potential comeback, however, the Cougars had other plans.
Clarksville Academy fought to tie the game back up at 8-8 after compiling six hits during the top of the seventh inning, which included two extra base hits. After tying the game, the Cougars turned their attention to the defensive side of the ball, but APSU baseball commit Eddington called game after blasting a game winning triple into left field which brought the go ahead in to score.
Dunn says that in big situations like that, that’s what Eddington is made for. “Gabe always hits,” Dunn said. “We expect that out of Gabe, that puts a lot of pressure on him, but he’s always come through. It’s nice to be on the other side of the walk off this time.”