HUBBARD FALLS IN TWO TOUGH GAMES

WOODBURY, Tennessee –

After dropping a pair of games to begin their trip to the Volunteer State, the Hubbard Eagles (1–5) traveled to Cannon County High School to take part in another doubleheader.

HUBBARD VS CENTRAL MAGNET

In a matchup that was supposed to take place yesterday prior to the revising of the schedule, the Eagles faced off against the Central Magnet Tigers (6-4). Central Magnet has made 5 appearances in the state tournament over the last 8 years andhold 3 regional championships in that same time frame.

Trailing by 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th and closing in on the time limit, the Eagles needed to rally to keep the game alive. Hubbard would quickly tie the game up thanks to a RBI Double off the bat of Hayden Fox, and a RBI single via Joe Langley. Unfortunately for the Dirty Birds, theiroffense would stop there, leaving pinch runner,Ryan Murray, stranded on second.

With the time limit surpassed and the two teams still tied, the game moved into extra innings, MLB shootout style. Central Magnet scored 3 in the top half of the inning and the Eagles were unable to respond, dropping their third game in a row, 8-5.

HUBBARD VS GRUNDY COUNTY

Trying to bring their losing streak to a halt, the Eagles turned their attention to the Grundy County Yellow Jackets (5-4). Hubbard snuck out a hard fought 3-1 victory when these two first matched up in 2018.

Starting off hot, the Eagles plated 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning. Back-to-back singles from Joe Langley and Andrew Kali would each plate run, as well as a booted ball by the Grundy County second basemen off the bat of Braeden Murray to plate 2 more.

The Yellow Jackets needed no time to respond, scoring 3 runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning thanks to 2 errors courtesy of the Eagle’s infield. Grundy County would later score in the 4th inning to tie the game at 4, then plate 2 more in the 5th to take their first lead of the game.

Needing to produce at the plate once again to stay alive, Hubbard started the inning at the number 8 spot in the lineup. Following a groundout to start the inning, singles from Mikey Zapka and Andrew Frank gave the Eagles a runner in scoring positionwith one away.

Tristan Adamson would lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Zapka to third and Frank to second. Grundy County would respond by walking the Eagle’s top returning hitter from 2019, Evan Jarvis. The intentional walk would bring Hayden Fox to the plate for the Eagles. With two strikes and the game on the line, Fox would line one into left–center field, scoring both Zapka and Frank to tie the game once again.

Once again, the Eagles had responded with their bats to bring themselves back into the game. However, it was another walk off win for the dugout opposite of the Eagles. Following two errors and a hit by pitch to load the bases, the Yellow Jackets’ Brandon Norris would poke one into the outfield, securing the victory, 7-6.

UP NEXT:

Dropping their 4th straight game in a row, the Eagles must now turn their attention to the Cubs of Madison, Indiana, with just one day left to play.