McMinn County’s Hayden Frank and Will Grimmett combined on a sterling three-hitter and 10 strikeouts Wednesday as the Cherokees beat East Hamilton, 6-2, Wednesday and handed the Hurricanes their first District 5-3A loss in 10 games.
The third-ranked Canes fell to 17-4 overall and 9-1 in the district. McMinn County is 9-11 and 2-6.
East Hamilton will play second-place Bradley Central (14-6, 7-1) next week in a home-and-home series starting on Monday at East Hamilton. The teams play again on Tuesday at Bradley Central.
Frank started and worked the first 5 1/3 innings and gave up all three East Hamilton hits. One of the two runs Frank yielded was unearned and he struck out five and walked two.
Grimmett threw the final 1 2/3 innings and struck out five.
East Hamilton’s Noah Pridmore gave up three hits over five innings and was tagged with all five McMinn County runs. Only was earned as the Canes committed six errors, three coming in the Cherokees’ three-run first inning.
Pridmore hit Gavin Peterson to start the first and stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Peterson scored on second baseman Connor Thornburg’s error. Andrew Ronne’s singled to left to send Will Harris home with the second run. Emery Peterson, who reached on Thornburg’s second error came home on first baseman Clay Honeycutt’s error.
That inning wiped out East Hamilton’s 1-0 lead produced when Thornburg singled and later scored on Will Campbell’s hit.
The Cherokees added to their advantage in the third when Harris was safe on third baseman Blake Hedrick’s error and Emery Peterson reached on a fielder’s choice and later scored on a passed ball.
McMinn extended its lead to 6-1 in the fourth as Sam Goodin walked and went home on a fielder’s choice by Matthew Pledge. Pledge crossed the plate on another passed ball.
East Hamilton came up with a single run in the fifth on Blaine Savage’s RBI singled to left.
Soddy-Daisy 9, Cleveland 0: Seth Coffelt threw a two-hit shutout and the Trojans backed him by scoring three runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings at Cleveland High School.
Hayden Tinsley had both of the Blue Raiders’ hits, including a triple. The rest of Cleveland’s offense went 0 for 21 against Coffelt, who struck out six and walked two.
The Trojans (11-7, 5-3) played errorless defense behind Coffelt and sent the Blue Raiders’ overall record to 8-8 overall and 3-5 in district play.
In Soddy-Daisy’s third inning and with the bases loaded, Hayden Maynor drove a two-run single to center. Dylan Caldwell, running for Harrison Travis after walking, came home on an error by catcher Ryan Lee.
Garrett Dent and Jacob Jennings each was hit by a pitch starting the fourth and Landon Maynor walked to again load the bases. Dent and Jennings each scored on wild pitches and Aaron Couch’s sacrifice fly pushed Landon Maynor home with the Trojans’ sixth run.
Hayden Maynor triggered with fifth with a double and Noah Howard walked. Both runners scored on Noah Ferguson’s single to center and Ferguson came home on another Lee error.
Linescores
East Hamilton 100 010 0 – 2 3 6
McMinn County 301 200 x – 6 4 0
Pridmore, O’Rear (6) and Campbell; Frank, Grimmett (6) and Harris
Soddy-Daisy 003 330 0 – 9 6 0
Cleveland 000 000 0 – 0 2 3
Coffelt and Travis; Blake, Sells (5) and Lee
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)