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Cloudy skies this morning followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 81F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Variable clouds with thunderstorms, especially late. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Updated: May 23, 2024 @ 7:35 am
VIRGINIA TECH signee Mycah Jordan (1) is greeted by his Cleveland teammates after blasting a three-run homer over the left field wall in Saturday's 5-3 victory over Ooltewah in the Region 3-4A semifinals, at the McKenzie Baseball Complex.
VIRGINIA TECH signee Mycah Jordan (1) is greeted by his Cleveland teammates after blasting a three-run homer over the left field wall in Saturday's 5-3 victory over Ooltewah in the Region 3-4A semifinals, at the McKenzie Baseball Complex.
BLUE RAIDER senior Jack McBrayer gave up just four hits in Saturday's 5-3 Region 3 semifinal victory over Ooltewah, at the McKenzie Baseball Complex.
After 4 1/2 innings of combined two-hit shutout ball, the bats finally warmed up as District 5 champ Cleveland and District 6 runner-up Ooltewah rounded the bases eight times in the following three team at bats.
Going from a scoreless game to a 5-3 Blue Raider victory in a flash, Cleveland secured it first Region 3 championship game since 2007.
With the hard-fought victory first-year head coach Brent Tucker's Blue Raiders will look to secure their first win in three tries this season over archrival Bradley Central Sunday.
After barely missing the substate last year for the first time in five seasons, District 6 champion Bradley notched its 25th win in the last 27 games with a 2-1 win over McMinn County in Saturday's other semifinal action.
Making its first region appearance since a state tournament run 17 years ago, 26th-ranked Cleveland (23-11), according to the Maxpreps Class 4A poll, will be dueling the 22nd-ranked Bears (25-7) back at the McKenzie Baseball Complex.
RAIDERS 5
OWLS 3
Starters Jack McBrayer for Cleveland and Ooltewah's Luke Parr dominated the opening 4 1/2 frames, the former allowing just a single and a double in five shutout half frames with the latter not giving up a a hit in 4.2 innings.
After the second out of the bottom of the fifth, the Raiders finally broke through when Evan Liner beat out an infield hit.
Jones Ernest "walked the line" to set the stage for Virginia Tech signee Mycah Jordan to blast his fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot into the parking lot beyond the left field fence.
Ooltewah answered with a trio of runs as well in the top of the sixth when Brock Smallen reached on a Raider miscue. Parr then ripped a RBI-double and advanced to third on another Cleveland error.
After Asa McMillion followed with a base-on balls, Caleb Henson singled home Parr's courtesy runner Jace Archuletta-Scandrett. A third Raider defensive miscue brought in the final run to knot the score at 3-all.
It was Cleveland' turn to take advantage of defensive miscues in the bottom of the inning.
Andrew Wenger reached on a one-out error when his sinking line drive to center popped in and out of the Owl fielder's glove.
River Briggs followed with a single and once again the Ooltewah outfielder made a throwing error that allowed Wenger to go to third and Briggs to second base.
Sophomore Caden Tippens then stepped in the box and delivered a two-run single for what turned out to be the game-winning runs.
Raider senior Tyler Gardner took the hill for the final Owl at bat and struck out a pair and got the other to ground out to Wenger at first to notch the save.
McBrayer gave up four hits, four free passes, struck out a couple and zero earned runs for the win.
Parr put up 5.2 inning of work, allowing just three hits, but four free passes, while posting a trio fo Ks and also not giving up an earned run.
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