WESTMORELAND Despite his struggles for much of the game, Hunter Crowson came up big for his team when they needed him most.
A walk-off hit by Crowson in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Westmoreland High baseball a 9-8 victory over visiting Cheatham County on Monday afternoon in a battle of teams in search of their first district win.
Westmoreland High senior pitcher Tyler McLoughlin flips to first base for the final out of the top of the first inning. McLoughlin picked up the complete-game victory on Monday afternoon, striking out 10 batters in the process.
“This win feels pretty good,” Crowson said. “Even though I let them down at the beginning of the game, we were able to stick together and made it to the finish.”
Crowson was hitless prior to his final at-bat, including two strikeouts.
The hit capped off a comeback by the Eagles (8-15 overall, 1-10 in District 9-AA) in which they trailed by five runs in the sixth inning.
“We’ve been in a lot of games, and it seems like things just hadn’t fallen our way,” Westmoreland head coach Will Troutt said. “The guys have kept a positive attitude, and tonight, we finally had some things go our way.”
After Eagle senior Tyler McLoughlin hit a two-run home run in the first inning, both teams were locked in a 2-2 tie until the fifth inning when the host squad gave up five runs on five hits (aided by a bases-loaded walk and an error).
Westmoreland High head coach Will Troutt congratulates senior Tyler McLoughlin following his first-inning home run.
A fifth-inning single by Westmoreland senior Billy Graves drove in classmate Kieran McLoughlin.
After a run-scoring single from Peyton Lane gave the Cubs an 8-3 lead, the Eagles scored three runs in the sixth inning. A triple by junior Lochlan Waid drove in sopohomore Presten Travelstead and Kieran McLoughlin, and Waid later scored on a ground ball by sophomore Logan Abell.
Westmoreland High junior second baseman Lochlan Waid fields a first-inning ground ball as Cheatham County junior Nate Saunders runs to second base. Waid had four hits, scored two runs and drove in four runs in the Eagles’ extra-inning victory on Monday afternoon.
Travelsteal and Kieran McLoughlin drove in seventh-inning runs to tie the game, setting up Crowson’s walk-off.
Cheatham County 200 051 00 – 8 18 6
Westmoreland 200 013 21 – 9 10 4
Gage Odum, Peyton Lane, Ryan Mahaney (8) and Reagan Barber; Tyler McLoughlin and Brandon Green. WP – McLoughlin. LP – Odum. Records: Cheatham County 6-16 overall, 0-11 in District 9-AA; Westmoreland 8-15, 1-10.