Landon Wallace Leads Hixson To 6-AA Baseball Title

Wildcats Win Third Straight Title After Signal Mountain Forces Second Game

  • Wednesday, May 9, 2018
  • John Hunt

The Hixson Wildcat baseball team likes to do things the hard way.

For the second straight year, they lost the first game of the District 6-AA championship at Red Bank only to bounce back to win the second.

Last year, it was Central.

This year, it was Signal Mountain, which is a first-year team in this district after being in 7-AA.

The Wildcats had beaten the Eagles by an 8-1 final on Monday, meaning that the top-seeded Eagles had to win twice Wednesday night to claim the tournament title.

Signal Mountain rallied to win the first game 11-6, but were unable to finish the deal as junior Landon Wallace pitched a complete game to lead the Wildcats to a come-from-behind 5-2 victory in the second.

The Wildcats improve to 21-14 overall and will be home on Monday to host the first round of the region tournament.  Signal Mountain is now 19-14 and will be on the road for Monday’s game.

Hixson left a ton of runners on base – 25 for the two games and 14 in the second – but that didn’t seem to matter to Wildcat coach Colton Green, whose team won its third straight 6-AA title and fourth in the last five years.

“I know we left a bunch of guys on, but I don’t care how many we stranded as long as we win the game,” Green suggested after getting doused by a cooler of ice water afterward.

“I’ll take a district championship any way I can get it.  Pitching and defense were the key for us in that second game and I felt like Landon pitched a great game.  He normally doesn’t start, but he’s gotten a lot of work in relief, so he’s been in tough spots before.

“Signal Mountain has an outstanding team, but he went right at ‘em.  We did the same thing last year when the lost the first game before winning the second.  We were able to turn things around in that second game and I’m happy about that, but this is the hump we’ve needed to get over and this is what we’ve been waiting for,” he added.

Wallace is Hixson’s catcher and leadoff man who had two hits and scored three runs in the first game.  He had two more hits in the second game, but his pitching was much more important as he went the distance for the first time this season. 

He allowed two runs in the third inning, but pitched shutout baseball the rest of the way as he scattered eight hits while striking out six and walking two.  He also hit a man.

Hixson rallied with three runs in the fourth before adding single runs in the fifth and seventh innings.

Trailing 5-2 going to the bottom of seven, the Eagles got a leadoff single from Brennon Weigert and a one-out walk to Scott Payne, but the spunky junior didn’t bat an eye and quickly got the final two outs to clinch the title.

“That was a big win for us, but the defense came through and made some big plays,” Wallace said before friends and family members started shooting team pictures.

“This was my first complete game, but my arm felt really strong the entire time.  I know that Signal Mountain has some really good hitters, so I had to make sure to hit my spots.  I was able to do that for the most part,” he smiled.

Daulton Cunningham’s two-run single in the third gave the Eagles an early 2-0 lead, but that’s all Wallace allowed.  Signal stranded one runner in the sixth and two more in the seventh, but Wallace was up to the challenge both times.

Meanwhile, four of Hixson’s five runs were unearned as the Eagles made six errors in the second game alone after committing three miscues in the first game.  The Wildcats had six miscues in the first game, but only one in the second.

Matthew Songer walked to lead off the fourth before Trevor Moore reached on a dropped throw at first.  Manny Velazquez then reached on another Eagle error as Songer and Moore scored to tie the score.

Jack Julian’s single with two outs sent Velazquez home to give Hixson the lead and the Eagles never regained the advantage.

Jacob McDaniel struck out to lead off the fifth for Hixson, but reached first on a passed ball.  He stole second and went to third on a bad throw before scoring when the ball got past the Eagle centerfielder.

Then in the seventh, the Wildcats added another insurance run when Jeremiah Shackleford beat out an infield single with one out before scoring on a double by Alex Rollins.

Things got interesting when the Eagles put those two runners on in the seventh, but Wallace snuffed out that potential rally as quickly as it began and the Hixson team dog-piled him in the infield after the final out had been recorded.

“I’m dog tired,” said Signal Mountain coach Josh Gandy after the second game finally ended.

“I thought we swung the bats well in the first game, but we didn’t make the plays we needed to make in the second and that was the difference.  I thought Collin Farr pitched decent, that that Wallace kid for Hixson was phenomenal.  He pitched his tail off and was great.

“I know we have to play on the road Monday, but I’m hoping we get to play these guys again next Wednesday in the region final,” he concluded.

Rollins, who was the hero in Monday’s 8-1 win, had four hits for the Wildcats in the second game after getting one in the first.  Wallace had two hits in each game.

Farr doubled in each of his first two at-bats and was the only Signal Mountain player with two hits in the second game.

In the first game, Hixson had a 4-0 lead after two innings before the Eagles cut that lead in half in the third.  Two more runs in the fourth knotted the score, but the fifth was the big frame for the Eagles as they sent 10 hitters to the plate and scored seven runs to put the game out of reach.

Collins Poole and Weigert both had three hits and scored twice in that first game while Mark Jones, Payne and Cunningham all had two hits.

Wallace had two hits for Hixson in the first game and scored three times while Julian had two singles and a pair of runs batted in.

Julian was the losing pitcher in the first game after allowing all 11 runs on a dozen hits.  He had five strikeouts and walked one.

Will Remke was the starter for Signal in the first game and didn’t get a decision after pitching two innings.  Braden Wolfard was the winner in relief after hurling the final five innings and allowing two runs on five hits.  He also had three strikeouts and walked three.

Farr was the loser in the second game after allowing four runs on six hits.  He had four strikeouts while walking two and hitting a pair before being lifted with one out in the fifth.

FIRST GAME

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN  002 270 0 – 11 14 3

HIXSON  130 110 0 – 6 9 6

Remke, Wolfard (3) and Cannon; Julian, Dossett (6) and Wallace.

SECOND GAME

HIXSON  000 310 1 – 5 9 1

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN  002 000 0 – 2 8 6

Wallace and Julian; Farr, Worley (5), Davis (7) and Cannon.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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