AHSAA BASEBALL PLAYOFFS: Cedar Bluff breezes past Valley Head, heads to second round

The Latest Local News from the Cherokee County Herald

CEDAR BLUFF – Cedar Bluff senior Devante Dixon says it’s all business now.

The regular season is over. The postseason is now underway, and the Tigers have one goal in mind.

That goal is playing for a Class 1A state championship.

On Saturday against their first-round opponent Valley Head, Dixon did his part to ensure Cedar Bluff’s postseason path got off to a good start. He held the visiting Tigers to just one hit and fanned eight in game one. Dixon also belted a double and a triple at the plate, drove in three runs and scored two more in an 11-0 victory in five innings.

Sophomore Josh Decker pitched a carbon copy performance on the mound in game two. He also tossed a one-hitter with eight strikeouts in another 11-0 victory in five innings.

The wins send the Tigers (20-9) to next weekend’s second round, where they will host longtime rival Spring Garden.

“All of our guys are relentless,” Dixon said. “They come in day in and day out and put in the work. They’re fighting for us seniors to push our careers further. We know we have to come in and handle business to get to our goal, which is the fourth round.”

Decker said Cedar Bluff had a good week of preparation despite dodging rain drops throughout this week.

“We had a couple of bullpen (sessions) at the beginning of the week and we felt pretty good about them,” Decker said. “Me and Coach Talbot talked before the (second) game. I just had to come out and fill it (strike zone) up. I felt like (catcher) Blake (Terry) called a tremendous series behind the plate, and our defense made plays behind us. It’s a lot easier when the pitcher and catcher are on the same page, and the defense is helping you out. We all had a high level of focus.”

That high level of focus was something that wasn’t lost on head coach Taylor Talbot.

“Devante and Josh both did a good job,” he said. “They were ahead of virtually every hitter, and that’s important. We want our guys to fill the zone with strikes. Outside of that, we’ve got to do a good job defensively and make plays. They were ahead all day long, and our success was created from that.”

Dixon allowed Valley Head’s only hit in game one in the top of the second inning – a single to left by pitcher Thomas Sudberry. Sudberry went 1-for-2 with a stolen base. He was also tagged with the loss after giving up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Cedar Bluff took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a RBI-double to left field by first baseman Jansen Teague. Teague’s hit drove in Terry, who led off the inning with a bunt single.

The home team tacked on three more runs in the third to take a 4-0 lead on doubles by Dixon, Teague and right fielder Joe Bradfield. Cedar Bluff then put the game away by sending 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth, scoring seven runs. Dixon and third baseman Jake Mintz both had triples in the inning. Dixon’s triple brought in two runs. Mintz’s triple scored another run. Bradfield added a bloop single to left that scored another run.

Terry, Dixon, Teague and Bradfield all had a pair of hits to lead Cedar Bluff in game one.

Cedar Bluff carried its hitting sticks into game two. The Tigers scored three runs in the second, third and fourth innings. They added the final two runs in the fifth for the final.

Terry tallied two more hits and drove in two more runs in the second game. Keaton Kilgro contributed a pair of hits, including a double, and drove in two runs. Anthony Dingler also delivered a pair of hits, a walk, and drove in three runs. Cole Kucharski singled, walked twice and drove in a run. Teague singled, walked and was hit twice by pitches.

The visitors never retired Teague, who went a combined 3-for-3 with two doubles, two walks, two HBPs and a single.

“You’ve just got to sit back, especially on slow pitching and low velocity pitching,” Teague said. “You’ve really got to work on staying on your back foot and not staying out in front. A lot of our guys did a good job of that today. Sometimes you get impatient and things happen, but we all did a good job of driving balls to the opposite field and really making things work.”

Added Talbot: “We’ve got a lot of guys who do their part. They don’t look down on taking an HBP or a walk. They’re really unselfish, and I thought Jansen did a good job with that today. It could have been real easy to go up there and take a hack, but he was very selective and huge offensively today.”

Ethan Harrison had the lone hit for Valley Head in game two – a single to left in the fourth that broke up Decker’s no-hit bid. Anthony McKenzie suffered the loss.

With Valley Head now behind it, Cedar Bluff can focus its attention on its second-round matchup with Spring Garden.

“There’s no doubt it’s a great rivalry,” Talbot said. “They’ve got a bunch of good ball players. They’ll come in here and get after it. (Spring Garden coach) Tony (Benefield’s) teams always do a good job of competing, and that’s the thing with quality teams. The further you go, you’ve got to be able to compete every week. It’s a great thing, a huge thing for our county. It’s been a constant the last several years in this rivalry, and it’s been good for baseball.”

Source: Cherokee County Herald

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