BRISTOL, Tenn. - The Tennessee High baseball team has been a wrecking ball this spring, destroying virtually everything in its path while winning 24 of 28 games. The Vikings ruled the five-team Upper Lakes Conference with a 12-0 record -- the second-place team finished 6-6.
All of the accolades make for a handsome scrapbook, but it does nothing moving forward as the Vikings look to navigate the land mine that is the double-elimination, District 1 AAA tournament.
Tennessee High has made a living with the mercy rule, but it wasn't that way on Thursday when the Vikings managed a 4-2 win over Unicoi County in first-round play at Tod Houston Park.
The victory keeps THS in the winner's bracket, with a home date straight ahead against Elizabethton at 6 o'clock on Friday. Elizabethton beat David Crockett 3-2 on Thursday.
Crockett hosts Unicoi County in an elimination game at 6 o'clock on Friday.
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The last two teams standing will advance to Region 1 AAA play.
Winning that first district game is what it's all about for any serious postseason contender.
"It's playoff baseball and it's hard to beat a team four times,'' THS coach Preston Roberts said. "Unicoi is a well-coached team and they've played us really tough four times this season. There's not been any run-rule games with them.
"It's good to get the first one out of the way. We found a way to win and that's the main thing."
While other league teams have gotten bombarded by Tennessee High, Unicoi County (11-17) had lost to the Vikings by scores of 2-1, 3-1 and 7-4 prior to this latest two-run game.
Allowing four runs to hard-hitting THS at Haynesfield? This is generally a winning formula.
Kaleb Feathers was even better, however, pitching six shutout innings for the Vikings before running into -- and escaping -- a prickly situation in the seventh frame.
"We didn't hit it as well as I wanted to," said veteran Unicoi County coach Chad Gillis, whose club had blanked Sullivan East 4-0 in Wednesday's play-in game. "I felt like we could after seeing some good arms at Science Hill (last Friday) and yesterday (against East).
"But Feathers did well -- he's a good pitcher. Last time we saw him he did well, too. Their pitching staff with him and (Cainan) Myers tomorrow, they're obviously tough to beat."
A right-hander, Feathers allowed eight hits -- four in the seventh inning. He struck out eight batters and walked just one in upping his record to 7-0 this season.
The senior took a 4-0 lead into the seventh before Nicky Satterly began the inning with a single and Ty Engle followed with a double. A THS throwing error allowed one Unicoi County run to score and the other trotted home on a pinch-hit, RBI single by freshman Alex Laningham.
"I stuck with him," Roberts said. "Kaleb's basically thrown complete games all year with low pitch counts -- he's not a 120-pitch guy. He cruised through games with 80, 90, 100 pitches.
"He relies on his command and obviously he relies on his defense, and he did again tonight."
Suddenly down 4-2, the Blue Devils had runners at first and second -- and the go-ahead run at the plate -- when Feathers stood tall and took care of their No.2 and No.3 hitters, first striking out Chris Chavez and then getting Kolby Jones to ground out to third base to end the game.
Tennessee High third baseman Rylan Lambert handled six of six chances flawlessly.
"Heck of a job Rylan Lambert," Roberts said. "He was our defensive MVP because if he throws ... if he makes just one error on any of those plays, it's a different ballgame."
Tennessee High produced enough offense to win with a three-run second inning, chasing starting pitcher Chavez in the process. The right-hander hit three batters and walked two while allowing two runs (one earned) on just one hit, an infield single, while recording only three outs.
"Chavez, if he could command the zone, he'd be the best pitcher in the league, probably," Roberts said. "He's a mid-to-upper-80s fastball guy, but he wasn't on.
"Again, we took the approach and found a way to get on base. Got him out of the game early and got the lead early."
Bryson Hutton, Gage Graziano and Josh Sizemore had run-scoring singles to give Tennessee High its 3-0 edge in the bottom of the second. Chandler Myers opened the frame by drawing a walk and Lambert added gas to the fire by reaching on a throwing error.
The Vikings ran themselves out of perhaps a bigger inning, when two runners ended up at third base on Hutton's bases-loaded, no-out single, leading to a double play that all but killed the rally.
The three-run cushion stood until THS added an insurance run in the home half of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Meyers. Graziano had singled and Isaac Blevins had doubled to set the table.
Down 4-0 heading into the seventh, the Devils finally measured Feathers and made him sweat.
"Kaleb came up big," said Roberts, who visited the mound after Unicoi County made it a 4-2 game. "Chavez at the plate and strikes him out and then gets Jones -- their two best hitters -- to roll it over (and ground out) to our third baseman. So, a phenomenal job by Kaleb."
After the early pitching struggles of Chavez, Gillis called on freshman Asher Wainwright, who officially covered six innings and surrendered six hits and only two runs (both earned). He issued just one free pass.
The hot-hitting Hutton had two base knocks for Roberts, as did Graziano. The bottom of THS's order -- Myers, Lambert and Sizemore -- reached base five times in nine plate appearances.
Kaden Cutlip, Gavin Tipton and Satterly all had two hits for the Blue Devils.
Unicoi County 000 000 2 -- 2 8 1
Tennessee High 030 010 x -- 4 7 1
C.Chavez, Wainwright (2) and Satterly; Feathers and Meyers. W -- Feathers (7-0). L -- C.Chavez. HR -- none.