Several Commandos were rewarded for their play in the District 9AAA Tournament by being named to the District 9AAA All-Tournament team:

Braden Schwerdt (SR)

Connor Fischer (SR)

Ben Smith (SR)

Austin Brown (SR)

Jarcques Wordlaw (SR)

Grant Williams (JR) 

Congratulations to seniors Austin Brown and Ben Smith who have been named to represent the middle TN AAA squad in the upcoming senior All-Star Classic at Cumberland University.  Click on the link to read the full article.

District 9-AAA has become one of the state's most talented baseball districts. With two of its members reaching the Class AAA state tournament (Hendersonville and Wilson Central), District 9-AAA is second to none in talent. At the conclusion of this year's season, District 9-AAA announced its All-District team and Most Valuable Players.

 

2015 9-AAA All-District Team

 

Coach of the Year:

Eric Vetetoe (Lebanon)

 

Most Valuable Player:

Grant Williams (Jr - Hendersonville)

Isaac Robertson (Jr - Beech)

 

Right-handed Pitcher of the Year:

Kyle Schmitt (Sr - Wilson Central)

 

Left-handed Pitcher of the Year:

A.J. Franklin (Sr - Wilson Central)

 

Beech:

Jacob Jenkins (Jr)

Daniel Lankster (Sr)

Tyler Maskill (Jr)

Kody Timmons (Jr)

 

Gallatin:

Andy Denning (So)

Jordan Mason (So)

 

Hendersonville:

Connor Fischer (Sr)

Drew Richard (Sr)

Austin Brown (Sr)

Ben Smith (Sr)

Jarcques Wordlaw (Sr)

Brandon Fuller (Jr)

 

Lebanon:

Bryce Lester (Jr)

Tristan Warden (So)

Jackson Arnold (Sr)

 

Mt Juliet:

Zach Ehrhart (Sr)

Tyler Warmath (Sr)

Jacob Cole (Jr)

Aaron Brown (So)

 

Portland:

Dach Diseker (Sr)

Kemper Dixon (Jr)

 

Station Camp:

Bryson Glover (Sr)

Michael Neely (Sr)

 

Wilson Central:

Ben Spradley (Sr)

Tony Pfefferle (Sr)

TBCA Final State Poll  2015

Class AAA                                Class AA

  1. Hardin Valley                         1. CPA

  2. Farragut                                 2. Knoxville Catholic

  3. Bartlett                                  3. Cascade

  4. Houston                                 4. Crockett Co.

  5. Ravenwood                             5. Lexington

  6. Soddy Daisy                           6. Loudon

  7. Hendersonville                         7. Sullivan South

  8. East Hamilton                         8. CAK

  9. Sevier Co.                               9. Murfreesboro Central

10. Columbia                               10. Pigeon Forge

Article by Craig Harris  (Gallatin News Examiner) 

MURFREESBORO – The Hendersonville High baseball team started the postseason being highly-productive offensively.

The Commando bats have cooled off lately, but the one mainstay had been the team's pitching.

However, the Hendersonville bullpen didn't provide much relief on Tuesday afternoon as the team squandered a pair of multi-run leads, ultimately suffering an 8-7 loss to Soddy-Daisy in the two teams' Class AAA State Tournament opener at Oakland High's Mack Hawks Field.

"Pitching depth didn't help us much tonight," Commando 25^th-year head coach Mike Hendrix said. "If you don't throw it over (the plate), you're not going to have a chance."

Hendersonville held a 4-0 lead for four innings, but the Trojans rallied in each of their final two turns at-bat.

"We're a fighting team," Soddy-Daisy junior leadoff hitter Tre Carter said. "We like to come back sometimes. Hopefully, we won't have to (going forward).

"It was a little scary."

The Trojans reached the state tournament for the first time since 2011 thanks to another come-from-behind victory, defeating visiting Smyrna by a 3-2 score in last Friday's sectional game thanks to junior Gavin Rogers' walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.

"They really have started playing hard for each other the last couple of weeks," Soddy-Daisy seventh-year head coach Jared Hensley said. "They're a great group of guys. They just got a little off kilter about midseason."

Commando junior starting pitcher Will Wacaser held the Trojans scoreless for five innings – allowing just three hits over that span – but he ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth.

"Their guy – Wacaser – was incredible," Hensley said. "He threw 58 pitches through five (innings). He lulls us to sleep with the breaking ball. Then, he brings that fastball up there about 86 (miles per hour)."

Hendrix added, "Wacaser pitched well. He got out of trouble a couple of times."

However, he couldn't escape trouble in the bottom of the sixth as Carter belted a two-run home run over the wall in rightfield.

"I was just looking to get a base hit," Carter said. "He left one high and in. That's where I like it. I swung as hard as I could."

Carter has a team-leading eight home runs.

"Tre's home run was huge to get us going," Hensley said. "We go as he goes. He led Chattanooga in triples. He led Chattanooga in home runs.

"We squared a ball up finally. I don't know how many we had squared up before that."

Then, a walk, a single and a hit batsman loaded the bases with one out.

A dropped throw at home plate by junior catcher Cooper Brenning that would have resulted in a forceout allowed the third run to score.

Then, a ground ball to senior second baseman Drew Richard gave Hendersonville a chance to turn an inning-ending double play, but after Richard flipped to senior shortstop Justin Long for the forceout at second base, Long's relay throw to first base was off target, allowing the tying run to cross the plate.

"We just got together as a team," Carter said. "We just started clicking. You just get together and start doing your job individually. You have to at least put the ball in play."

Wacaser induced the next hitter to ground to Long, who threw to Richard for a forceout to end the inning and keep the contest tied.

"We couldn't come in and throw the ball over the plate," Hendrix said. "It was a lot of different things. We were hanging on, but it didn't work out for us."

Hendersonville – which had its seven-game winning streak snapped – responded immediately though as Richard and junior Grant Williams reached on seventh-inning errors, which were sandwiched around a four-pitch walk to senior Ben Smith. That loaded the bases with no outs.

Brown singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Richard, and sacrifice flies by senior Jarcques Wordlaw and Brenning drove in junior pinch runner Aris Welden and sophomore pinch runner Andrew Larson, sending the Commandos into the bottom of the seventh with a three-run lead.

All four of Soddy-Daisy's runs scored with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

"They were more patient in that last inning," Hensley said.

The Commandos used three pitchers – junior left-hander Brandon Fuller, sophomore right-hander Andrew Dorris and junior left-hander Ian MacMaster.

Rogers' two-out single drove in Carter with the first run, but Dorris threw a pitch in the dirt that senior Andy Wright swung at and missed for a third strike. However, the ball rolled to the backstop, and Wright outran the off-target throw to first base to keep the game going.

Dorris issued back-to-back walks to junior Grant Cordell and sophomore Justin Cooke that forced in runs to retie the game, and MacMaster hit senior Levi Thornton with the second pitch he threw, bringing home Wright with the winning run.

"I felt good with Fuller," Hendrix said. "They had three left-handers in a row (hitting to start the inning). Then, we went with the right-hander to match up with them.

"It takes Mac a little bit to get started, but he didn't have a little bit to get started."

Hendersonville took control early on with a four-run second inning.

Williams led off with a double to right-centerfield, and he moved to third base when Brown singled through the left side of the infield.

Brown had two of his squad's five hits.

Walks to Wordlaw and Brenning forced in Williams, and one out later, Long doubled to right-centerfield, driving in Brown, Wordlaw and junior courtesy runner Jon Swindle for a 4-0 lead.

"He tomahawked it," Hendrix said. "He tomahawked it in the gap, and we kept running. It was big. He came through for us."

However, the Commandos managed just two hits over the final five innings.

Hendersonville has produced just 26 hits over its last five games, winning the first four of those contests.

"You go back and look at Centennial (the team's sectional opponent), and they had a pretty good guy on the hill (senior left-hander Adam Mancour)," Hendrix said. "Centennial did a real good job against us.

"It's always been said that good pitching will beat good hitting."

The Commandos are in the state tournament for the fifth time, having never finished worse than fourth place in those first four appearances. With Tuesday's loss, the Commandos fell to 2-3 in state openers.

"They're a little down, but they'll pop back up I hope," Hendrix said. "I think they'll respond. I think they know that if they don't, it will come to a close.

"We let one get away from us, but have we won a couple of games lately that we shouldn't have? Does it even out? It probably does."

The Trojans won their first seven games this season, then went just 13-10 over their next 23 games and won their fourth consecutive contest on Tuesday.

"It's big for a lot of reasons, No. 1 to carry that momentum into day two," Hensley said of opening with a win. "Everybody is trying to win it all. You don't just show up. We didn't come here to not give our best effort."

Carter added, "It's huge. It keeps us in our momentum of winning. We're on a 4-0 run since the district tournament."

Soddy-Daisy was making its fourth state-tournament appearance, having won the state in 1977 before losing both of its games in 2004 and winning one of three games in 2011.

Sports reporter Craig Harris can be contacted at 575-7138.

 

Hendersonville 040 000 3 – 7 5 0

Soddy-Daisy 000 004 4 – 8 8 3

Will Wacaser, Brandon Fuller (7), Andrew Dorris (7), Ian MacMaster (7) and Cooper Brenning; Gavin Rogers, Andy Wright (7) and Dillon Clift. WP – Wright (5-0). LP – Dorris (2-1). Home runs: Soddy-Daisy – Tre Carter (8). Records: Hendersonville 33-12, Soddy-Daisy 24-10.