The McCallie baseball team opened the Division II-AA East Region Tournament Monday with a doubleheader sweep of Webb Knoxville at home and, with the win, earned a berth in the upcoming state playoffs. The Blue Tornado defeated the Spartans 11-1 in six innings in game one and 4-2 in game two.
McCallie scored nine runs in the first three innings in the opening game, highlighted by three doubles in the first by Noah Wilson, Zach Porter, and Nick Gibson.
The Spartans broke through in the fourth on an RBI double, but Blue Tornado starter Christopher Moore had all the support he needed and exited after the fifth inning, allowing a run, a hit and striking out four in his outing.
John Cardwell threw the sixth inning, and McCallie walked it off in the bottom of the frame when David Sabo was plunked with the bases loaded.
Webb jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game two with single runs in the first and third innings off starter Gibson. McCallie tied it in the bottom of the third on back-to-back sacrifice flies from Nolan Sergeant and Porter. RBI singles from Briggs Martin in the fifth and Bryce Sanders in the sixth pushed the Blue Tornado ahead, and Bandy tossed a scoreless sixth and seventh innings for the save in relief of Gibson, the winner.
McCallie advances to play Knoxville Catholic Friday in the Region Tournament semifinals at Baylor with the winner facing the top-seeded Red Raiders for the Tournament title and the Region’s No. 1 seed heading to the playoffs.