Cordova JV Baseball Game Summaries

Cordova JV claims 3rd place in AAA regionals 5/10/01
Cordova defeats Bartlett to advance in AAA regional tournament 5/9/01
Red Devils fall to Cordova JV in AAA regional tournament 5/8/01
Wolves devour White Station Spartans in AAA regional tournament action 5/5/01
Cordova loses AAA regional tournament opener to Houston 5/3/01

Cordova JV claims 3rd place in AAA regionals

The Cordova Wolves JV baseball team concluded their spring season Thursday, May 10th, with a loss to the Collierville Dragons in the semi-final game of the AAA regional tournament. With the 4-3 loss, the Wolfpack claimed the 3rd place spot in the region, behind Christian Brothers and Collierville.

The Dragons held an early 1-0 lead through 4 innings. Freshman right fielder Eric Moore legged out a single, and sophomore Kirk Hall doubled to set the table for a rally in the top of the 5^th. Sophomore Zach Zimmerman drove in Moore to tie the score 1-1. With 2 outs, and Hall poised on 3^rd, the pitcher, Justin Harris, came to the plate in an excellent position to help himself out. Harris worked the opposing Collierville pitcher to an 8 pitch full count before he hit a grounder to the Dragon 2^nd baseman. The 2^nd baseman bobbled the ball and allowed Harris to reach base, scoring Hall from 3^rd for the go ahead run. Harris held Collierville in the bottom of the 5^th .

Cordova catcher Brandon Badgett led off the 6^th with a smasher to left-center that allowed him to advance three bases. With no out the Wolfpack looked to be in prime shape to add a security run to their total. The crowd got tense after the next two batters grounded out to the Collierville infield, holding the runner at third base. Sophomore Anthony Pinkston stood up to the plate for a pressure at bat, and with a 2-2 count fouled off the payoff pitch. Pinkston came through on the next toss by ripping a single between the gloves of the Dragon’s 1^st and 2^nd basemen. Freshman Travis Calvi, as substitute runner for Badgett, scored and Pinkston was safe on 1^st. Two pitches later Pinkston was thrown out by the Collierville catcher attempting to steal 2^nd to end the inning.

Harris took the mound with a 3-1 lead in the 6th. The temperature and humidity were high for early May, and Harris was showing signs of fatigue as he crept up on a 100+ pitch outing. With two outs and two runners on base, the Dragon's left fielder, Scruggs, ripped an RBI single to center field. The next batter, Collierville second baseman, Smith, blasted a two RBI single to right field to put the go-ahead run on the score board. The following batter popped up to 1st to end the inning.

The Dragons brought in their closer to protect the one run lead in the 7th inning. He did his job masterfully, striking out the Cordova batters 1, 2, 3, to end the game and preserve a 4-3 win for Collierville.

see total stats for AAA regional tournament.

Cordova POS AB R H RBI BB K Hall 2B 4 1 1 0 0 2 Zimmerman SS 3 0 1 1 1 1 Harris P 3 0 0 1 0 0 Hawk LF 3 0 0 0 0 1 Badgett C 3 1 2 0 0 0 Polk, Mk 1B 3 0 0 0 0 1 Mason, P 3B 2 0 0 0 1 1 Pinkston, An CF 3 0 1 1 0 0 Moore RF 3 1 2 0 0 1 Totals   27 3 7 3 2 7
	Travis Mathews on mound vs Catholic HS

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Cordova defeats Bartlett to advance in AAA regional tournament

Jake Sluder, sophomore pitcher for the Cordova Wolfpack JV, did not let the heat and humidity of the afternoon sun spoil his start, as he pitched a complete seven inning game, claiming the quarter-final AAA Regional Tournament victory over the Bartlett Panthers for the Wolfpack. Cordova scored 9 runs off of 13 hits aided by the productive bats of sophomore Kirk Hall (4-4), and freshmen Chris Hawk (2-4, 2 doubles) and Patrick Mason (2-3). The three combined for 8 hits, 7 RBI’s, and 4 runs.

After 4 innings the score was tied 2-2 with neither team able to gain an advantage. Every out was important, so the fans were concerned when the fielding of the Wolves began to unravel in the top of the 5^th as the errors began to mount up. Fortunately, Cordova was able to get out of the field allowing just one Panther base runner to score.

Coach Barnett’s mid-inning pep talk must have had some bite, as the Wolfpack batters came out swinging in the bottom half of the 5^th. Hall, Mason, and Justin Harris all singled; then Hawk came through with a rocket hit for a double to deep center-field, adding 3 more runs to Cordova’s score for a 5-3 lead. Sluder shut down Bartlett in the 6^th and Cordova continued to put pressure on the Panthers, as they tallied 4 more runs in their half of the 6^th inning. Bartlett could not rally in their last at bat, as Sluder struck out their final batter on 3 pitches to complete the game and the win.

Cordova JV will face either CBHS or Collierville at 4p on May 10^th at Germantown in the AAA regional tournament semi-finals. see combined batting stats for AAA regional tournament thru 4 games.

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Red Devils fall to Cordova JV in AAA regional tournament

Cordova JV’s tournament bats remained hot Tuesday as they breezed to a 10-5 victory over the Germantown Red Devils in third round action in the AAA Regionals. Left fielder, Chris Hawk, got the wolves howling to start off the 2^nd inning, by smacking a line-drive, home-run, over the left-center field wall. The next six Cordova batters followed Hawk’s lead by reaching base in the inning, tallying three scores off of five hits, and giving the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead.

Cordova continued to add to their score throughout the game and held a 9-2 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning. Sophomore, right-hander, Markel Polk, had done a masterful job from the mound over the first five innings. Entering the 6^th inning, Polk had thrown 87 pitches to 22 Red Devil batters; and allowed only 3 hits. Germantown, by contrast, had already gone through three pitching changes in five innings and given up 8 hits to the Wolves.

Germantown came up with two big hits to start the 6^th inning, scoring a run. Three batters later the bases were loaded and Polk had thrown 111 pitches and was visibly tiring. Coach Barnett went to the bull-pen and brought sophomore Anthony Albonetti in to pitch in relief. The first batter he faced hit a 2 RBI single to center-field, then Albonetti got the next Germantown batter to hit into a 4-6-3 (Hall, Zimmerman, Harris) double play to end the inning.

Cordova added a score in the top of the 7^th as Patrick Mason touched every bag due to a series of Red Devil errors, bringing the score to 10-5. Albonetti had no trouble closing out the game in the final inning, sealing the third round AAA regional tournament game for the Wolfpack.

Hawk hit for 5 extra bases in the contest, adding a triple to his home run and batting 3-5 for the night. Catcher Brandon Badgett also had a good night at the plate hitting 2-4 with a double. But it was Polk who might have had the best line of the evening. In addition to receiving the win from the mound, he was 2-3 from the plate, including a 3 RBI double.

Cordova JV will face Bartlett JV, Wed, May 9^th at 4p in the fourth round of AAA regional tournament action.

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Wolves devour Spartans in AAA Regional tournament action

The doctor couldn’t have ordered a better tonic than the White Station Spartans to cure the gut-wrenching disappointment Cordova’s JV baseball team felt after an extra inning loss in the first round of the AAA regional tournament. The Wolves produced 13 runs off of 11 hits in winning this second round game by a final score of 13-3 over the Spartans.

Freshman pitcher Travis Mathews kept the Spartans off stride from the mound throwing four scoreless innings. Mathews started the 5^th inning by walking the first two batters he faced, and then with two outs, a fielding error allowed the first White Station run of the game to score. After giving up RBI singles to the next two batters, Coach Barnett decided to end the Spartan mini-rally by bring freshman hurler, Boyd Quinley, in to handle the final out of the inning.

Entering the bottom of the 5^th inning, the Wolves needed two runs to end the game by the ten run slaughter rule. First baseman, Justin Harris, led off the inning by reaching base on a fielder’s error by the Spartan’s short-stop, and later scored, reducing the runs needed to end the game to one. With one out, catcher Brandon Badgett was walked and pinch runner Travis Calvi scored the final run of the contest, on a series of throwing errors by the White Station team, to end the game 13-3.

Wolfpack center fielder, Anthony Pinkston, continued to produce with a hot bat as he went 3-3 from the plate during the contest. Eight different Cordova JV players hit safely, aiding in the win. Harris excited the crowd early in the game with a two RBI, in the park, home-run. Also producing multiple hits for the Wolfpack was second baseman Kirk Hall, going 2-4.

Cordova JV will next face either Collierville or Germantown on Monday, May 7^th, at 7p, during the third round of the AAA regional tournament at Germantown..

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Wolfpack loses heart-breaker to Mustangs in AAA regional tournament opener.

Everyone thought the game was over when Zach Zimmerman, sophomore short-stop for the Cordova High JV, hit two 365 ft. plus home runs in consecutive at-bats, but….

The Houston Mustangs came from behind to tie the ball game in the bottom of regulation play, and went on to win in the second extra inning. Cordova had jumped out to an early 8-2 lead off of power hitting by Zimmerman, Wolfpack catcher Brandon Badgett and center fielder Anthony Pinkston; coupled with strong pitching from starter Justin Harris. Unfortunately, the early scoring was not enough as Houston nibbled away at the lead in the 5^th, 6^th and 7^th innings while Cordova was held in check on the bases.

Entering the bottom of regulation play the Wolfpack held an 8-5 lead over the Mustangs. Jay Hollenbeck took the mound in an adverse situation with no outs and two runners on base, and the score 8-6. After forcing the first two batters he faced into pop-up outs, the Houston coach coerced the field umpire into calling a baulk on Hollenbeck, bringing the score to 8-7. A freak hit, which ricocheted off the pitcher’s leg into right field, scored the tying run. The third out of the inning came off of a fly ball to center field.

Hopes were revived when Badgett led off the top of the 8^th inning with a double to left field. Markel Polk pushed Badgett to 3^rd with a fielder’s choice to the Mustang shortstop, but Badgett was stranded on third as the next two batters failed to put the ball in play.

Hollenbeck held Houston in the bottom of the 8^th, stranding two Mustang base runners. Cordova was 3 up and 3 down in the top half of the 9^th, and Houston took advantage of a lead off walk to win the game, as the next batter placed a hard hit ball in right field to score the winning run.

Offensively, of Cordova’s 9 hits in the contest, 6 were for extra bases (Zimmerman 2 HR, Badgett 2 doubles, left fielder Chris Hawk doubled, and Pinkston doubled). Zimmerman accounted for 5 RBI’s, going 2 for 3 with a walk. Third baseman Patrick Mason, along with Hawk, Badgett, and Zimmerman each had 2 hits in the game. As a team the Wolves hit for .237 with 1 BB while the Mustangs batted .322 with 10 BB and 3 HBP.

The defensive play of the game came as a double play to end the 5^th inning. Houston was poised to score, with a runner on third when Cordova pulled off a 4-6-3 (Kirk Hall, Zimmerman, Polk) double play to end the inning.

Cordova will face White Station Saturday, May 5^th, at 10 a.m., at Germantown for the second game of the tournament.

Cordova POS AB R H RBI BB K Hall 2B 5 0 0 0 0 1 Mason, P 3B 5 1 2 0 0 0 Harris P 3 1 0 1 0 0 Hawk LF 4 1 2 1 0 0 Badgett C 4 2 2 1 0 0 Polk, Mk 1B 4 0 0 0 0 1 Zimmerman SS 3 2 2 5 1 0 Pinkston, An CF 4 0 1 0 0 1 Foster RF 4 1 0 0 0 1 Sludder P 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hollenbeck P 1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals   38 8 9 8 1 5	Zach Zimmerman stands at the plate for his first of two 365 plus ft. home runs of the game.

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