MORRISTOWN — Nate Stoots didn’t get to play in Science Hill’s 2023 Class 4A baseball sectional. But the sophomore’s timely hits ensured the Hilltoppers would return.
Stoots homered in both of Science Hill’s games Saturday afternoon at Wild West Park. After a 13-7 victory over Daniel Boone, Science Hill defeated District 2-4A champion Morristown West 13-5 to finish Region 1-4A runner-up and advance to sectionals again.
“I feel like for Science Hill it’s just something we have to do every year,” Stoots said.
Check it off the list for 2024. His two-run blast in the top of the fifth put Science Hill (32-11) ahead 6-1. And that came after Major Osbolt had lined a two-out double and then scored on Josh Marmo’s ground-ball single.
Landon Smelser singled home two more runs to help build a 9-1 advantage, The Trojans (26-9), who won their first region tournament game since 2003 Friday night, couldn’t get closer than six runs.
Caden Wells joined the fun too, following a Stoots double with his first varsity home run in the sixth. The sophomore finished 3-for-4 to help his cause on the mound, where he allowed three earned runs and scattered eight hits over five innings of work.
Even when West loaded the bases in the first inning, he allowed only one run. Jackson Berry turned a double play to end the inning tied 1-1.
“Coach Edwards just said fix your mentality (on his first-inning mound visit); don’t let that inning get to you, be a dog out there,” Wells said.
Lucas Dye snagged a one-out line drive in the fourth, doubling off a runner at first to keep Science Hill ahead 3-1, before Hagan Gibson took the mound in relief. Neither Wells nor Gibson walked a batter.
“That’s been one of our strengths this year is having depth at pitching,” Science Hill coach Ryan Edwards said. “I highlighted a sheet for them today with the yellow highlights were where we’ve been in the sectional and the pink was when we weren’t (in the past 15 years). Can’t take it for granted; we had five out of six years where we didn’t get there. I told them we’ve got to get back there again.”
He got to add one more yellow highlight to that list after Saturday’s game.
Dye’s RBI double in the second put Science Hill up for good, and Smelser singled him home.
Osbolt, who singled home two more runs in the seventh, finished 3-for-5. Smelser, Berry, Marmo and Stoots collected two hits apiece.
Bryson Shepard went 3-for-4 to lead the Trojans. Gavin Mitchell, Paxton Seal and Connor Rouse had two hits each. Mitchell went 4 2/3 innings on the hill, striking out two in the loss.
Science Hill 13, Daniel Boone 7
Daniel Boone went down swinging trying to extend its historic baseball season.
The Trailblazers trimmed an eight-run deficit to just 9-7, before Science Hill added insurance runs in the sixth.
Nate Stoots helped cut the Blazers’ rally short, hitting a two-run blast to make it 11-7. Aiden Vermillion sent home the final two runs with a line-drive single up the middle.
“I had two strikes on me, so I was just trying to do my job and get the runners over,” Stoots said.
Cole ReSue then retired three of Boone’s last four batters to collect the save, as he pitched the final three innings with one strikeout and just one hit allowed.
Sam Lane went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored for Science Hill. After singles by Lucas Dye, Vermillion and Landon Smelser, Lane plated all of them when he tripled down the right field line, and an errant throw allowed him to make it home. Josh Marmo singled home Jackson Berry to make it 9-1 after two innings.
It was Marmo’s fifth RBI of the game, as his grand slam in the first inning put Science Hill ahead to stay 4-1.
Major Osbolt doubled twice with Smelser, Marmo, Dye and Vermillion adding two hits apiece.
Austin Denham got the win after relieving starting Noah Hazell in the fourth. The two combined for five strikeouts.
Graham Jones had given Daniel Boone an early 1-0 lead with his two-out solo shot. He finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
“It was a good year, not going to let this take anything away from us,” Boone coach Scott Hagy said. “There’s only a handful of teams that get to be happy on that last day. Ours just ended before we would’ve liked obviously.”
And Boone didn’t fold. Back-to-back singles by Jones and Chandler Justice plated three runs in the third inning to make it 9-4. Jones doubled in one more run in the fifth, before two more runs scored on groundouts to get the Blazers within two.
“These seniors, they’ve won a lot of games a won some championships (in multiple sports),” Hagy noted. “No doubt they’ve left the place better than when they came in, far as I’m concerned.”
After winning its first ever conference title and breaking into the TBCA Class 4A top 10, Boone finished the season 21-10.
UP NEXT
Science Hill travels to Farragut for the Class 4A sectional series, with the first game currently set for Wednesday.