By Ryan Davenport, WSON Sports Correspondent 

The Henderson County Colonels faced off against the Caldwell County Tigers in the opening round of the 2nd Region Tournament in Henderson.

The Colonels would strike first in the bottom of the 1st inning with a RBI groundout by sophomore third baseman Cooper Vowels that would score 1 run and then later in the inning, a 2 RBI double by senior first baseman Bryce Hayden as the Colonels would have a 3-0 lead over the Tigers heading into the top of the 2nd inning.

The Tigers would get on the board in the top of the 3rd inning sophomore shortstop Collin Whittington scored on an error by Colonel shortstop Alec Satterfield as the Tigers narrowed the deficit to 3-1 heading into the bottom of the 3rd inning.

Colonels would score a run on an error by the Tigers sophomore left fielder Luke Parker in the bottom of the 3rd inning, as sophomore right fielder Dax Wilson would score the run and the Colonels would go ahead 4-1 going into top of the 4th inning. 

Neither team would score again as the Colonels would come away with the 4-1 victory over the Caldwell County Tigers. The Colonels improve their record to (16-17) on the season while the Tigers season ends with a (19-12) record. 

Colonel’s senior pitcher Brennan Cates was 2 for 2 with 2 stolen bases on the night while senior first baseman Bryce Hayden was 1 for 2 with a big two out 2 RBI double early in the game.

 

Colonels senior pitcher Brennan Cates went 5 innings allowing 0 hits and 1 runs while walking 7 batters and recording 5 strikeouts on the night. Junior pitcher Reed Rheinhardt relieved Cates. Rheinhardt pitched the last 2 innings and allowed 1 hits and 0 runs while walking 1 batter and recorded 5 strikeouts. 

 

As a team, the Colonels scored 4 runs and recorded 7 hits, 3 RBI’s, 1 double, 3 errors, and 8 stolen bases on the night.

 

Player of the game for the Colonels was senior pitcher Brennan Cates. I asked Brennan how he felt like he performed in the game and how his team played and he responded with this, “I started off a little wild but only gave up one hit. I knew they couldn’t really beat me hitting wise, I knew that I had to not let them score and I knew we were going to tack on a few runs. Bryce Hayden with a big game, couldn’t have done this without him and everybody contributed really well.”

Henderson County Colonels head coach Adam Hines talked about his team’s performance on the night, “Played great, had good energy tonight. Good starting pitching, Brennan was good early, didn’t have his best stuff I don’t think but figured out a way to get through 5 innings and grind it through it. Reed was really good at the end, offense was good early. Had some key hits early in the game to get us up and take the pressure off our bullpen and a good all round game for us.”

 

The Colonels will take on the Lyon County Lyons tomorrow night, Monday May 22nd, at 5:30 P.M. in the 2nd Region Baseball Tournament Semi-finals in Henderson at B.T. Wayne Field.