Wheels: J.M. Tate baseball escapes Lewisville

The J.M. Tate (Fla.) baseball team rode the strong right arm of Madison Lockman to escape with a hard earned 2-1 victory over a scrappy Lewisville Lions’ squad Friday afternoon in the third day of the Wheels Invitational baseball tournament.

Tate, a 7A high school located near Pensacola, came into the contest sporting a 15-2 record, but the Lions (7-6) also received a gutsy pitching performance from senior Austin Bradshaw who went the distance while surrendering seven hits, striking out three, and issuing only one base-on-balls. He was helped by a strong defense.

“This has been the story of our season,” said Lewisville coach Billy Keels following the game. “We have lost four games by one run. And Austin really pitched his rear end off.”

And despite going toe-to-toe with a 7A school, Keels said that probably looks good but was quick to add, “we don’t have moral victories at Lewisville.”

Bradshaw was pleased with his performance on the mound but was quick to offer praise to his teammates.

“My defense backed me up really well,” said Bradshaw. “They were great behind me and I had my curve ball working really good.”

The Lions tallied their lone run in the top of the second inning. Cody Montgomery, who collected three hits in as many at bats, singled to open the inning and eventually came around to score on a sharp single to left field by sophomore Andrew Culp to go up 1-0.

The Aggies answered in the bottom of the third inning. Branden Fryman singled and later swiped second base. Three batters later with runners on the corners, Hunter Worley lashed a double to right field plating two runs and giving his team a 2-1 advantage.

That was all the runs Tate needed for Lockman who went five innings giving up four hits. Michael Sherrill hurled the final two innings to record the save although Denver Moseley drove the Aggies centerfielder to the track for the final out of the game.

J.M. Tate 14, South Pointe 6: J.M. Tate brought out the heavy lumber to defeat South Pointe in Friday’s second game of the Wheels Invitational tournament played at South Pointe. The Aggies knocked 19 hits off two Stallions pitchers led by Mark Miller who collected three hits in five at bats while driving in six runs. He capped his afternoon off with a three-run homer after the Stallions had battled back from a 7-0 deficit to slice the lead to 9-6.

“I had a good game,” Miller said with a smile afterwards. “I am seeing the ball real good, shortening my swing, and hitting a lot of line drives.” Hunter Worley contributed a pair of rbi giving him four for the two games.

Tate jumped to its 7-0 lead after tallying four runs in the top of the fourth. Miller had a 2-run single in that inning but South Pointe was not going away without a fight. The Stallions tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth and added four more in the fifth thanks in part to an infield throwing error that allowed two runs to score and cut the Tate lead to 9-6. Stephen Thompson had a double in the inning.

Tate put the game away with a five-run seventh that featured six consecutive hits. In a losing effort Kyle Dills collected three more hits for the Stallions giving him a total of nine in the tournament.

“They jumped on us early and that changed the game,” said South Pointe coach Joel Taylor. “My hat’s off to them (Tate) but we never let up. I’m proud of my boys. We kept fighting.”

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 10:59 PM with the headline "Wheels: J.M. Tate baseball escapes Lewisville."