Oak Ridge Today

Baseball: Regular season ends this week, district tournament begins

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Oak Ridge senior pitcher Seth Caldwell (0) is pictured above during a 9-1 win over Campbell County at Bobby Hopkins Park in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge senior pitcher Seth Caldwell (0) is pictured above during a 9-1 win over Campbell County at Bobby Hopkins Park in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:05 p.m.

The regular baseball season ends this week, and the district tournament begins.

As of Tuesday, Oak Ridge was 15-11 overall and 7-6 in District 3-AAA.

In their last district game, at home on Tuesday, the Wildcats beat Campbell County 9-1. They were scheduled to play their final regular-season district game, a rescheduled game, at Campbell County this afternoon (Sunday, April 29).

Oak Ridge will play a a non-district game at Walker Valley in Cleveland on Monday and a throwback game using wooden bats at Farragut on Tuesday.

The district tournament starts on Thursday, and games will be hosted by the top two seeds, which could be Karns and either Halls or Powell. [Read more…]

Baseball: Wildcats play Halls again in district tournament at Karns

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Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today

Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today

 

KARNS—Oak Ridge stayed alive in the District 3-AAA baseball tournament with a 7-5 win over Clinton at Karns on Monday, and the Wildcats advanced to play Halls in a losers bracket today (Tuesday, May 9).

It’s the second time in three days that Oak Ridge will play Halls. The Wildcats lost to the Red Devils 8-0 in a first-round game on Sunday.

Halls (17-12) was bumped into the losers bracket of the double-elimination tournament with a 2-1 loss to Karns on Monday.

Today’s game starts at 5:30 p.m. on Coach Dwight Smith Field at Karns High School. The season is over for the loser. The winner advances to play Karns (25-8) at 8 p.m. today.

The Monday night game between Oak Ridge and Clinton was scoreless until the third inning, when the Wildcats opened up a 5-0 lead.

Two innings later, the Dragons responded with five runs of their own, tying the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth inning. [Read more…]

After loss to Halls, Oak Ridge plays Clinton in elimination game today

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Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today

Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today

 

KARNS—After an 8-0 loss to Halls on Sunday, Oak Ridge will play in a district tournament elimination game today (Monday, May 8).

The season will end for the loser. The winner will move on to play the loser of the Halls-Karns game in the District 3-AAA baseball tournament on Tuesday. The Halls-Karns game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. today at Karns High School.

The Oak Ridge-Clinton game is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. today at Karns High School.

Oak Ridge (13-15) beat Clinton (13-21) twice during the regular season. The first was an 8-0 win at home on Monday, April 17, and the second was a 5-1 victory at Clinton two days later, on Wednesday, April 19.

Before the Sunday loss to Halls (17-11), the Wildcats had lost once to the Red Devils during the regular season, a 7-2 defeat on Thursday, April 20. [Read more…]

Baseball: Wildcats win 3 of last 5 district games, play Clinton Monday

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Oak Ridge junior catcher Jacob Ownby (44) is pictured above during a 6-4 loss to Powell at Bobby Hopkins Field on Friday, March 31, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge junior catcher Jacob Ownby (44) is pictured above during a 6-4 loss to Powell at Bobby Hopkins Park on Friday, March 31, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge Wildcats have won three of their last five district baseball games. They have three more district games this week, including one at home today (Monday, April 17) against Clinton and then another at Clinton on Tuesday.

The Wildcats (9-10, 3-4 District 3-AAA) will then travel to Halls on Thursday.

Today’s varsity game against Clinton (10-15, 1-6) is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at Bobby Hopkins Park. The junior varsity game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Here are summaries of recent district games: [Read more…]

Baseball photos: Oak Ridge-Powell

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Oak Ridge junior Ian Campbell (24) pitches to Powell during a 6-4 loss to the Panthers at Bobby Hopkins Field on Friday, March 31, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge junior Ian Campbell (24) pitches to Powell during a 6-4 loss to the Panthers at Bobby Hopkins Park on Friday, March 31, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge Wildcats lost to Powell 6-4 at the end of March. Here are photos from the game by John Huotari. [Read more…]

Baseball: Oak Ridge beats Anderson County 11-1

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Oak Ridge Caldwell Pitch Anderson County Baseball April 10 2017 Web 2

Pitcher Seth Caldwell of Oak Ridge (0) threw a complete game, throwing 71 pitches during an 11-1 win over Anderson County on Monday, April 10, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge Wildcats beat the Anderson County Mavericks 11-1 in five innings on Monday.

The game ended on the run rule, which finishes a game if a team is up by 10 runs or more after five innings.

Anderson County is a good opponent, and Oak Ridge doesn’t normally run rule them, Wildcats Coach Mark Garrison said. In fact, until Monday, Anderson County had won five of the last six games between the two teams, dating back to 2014. The Wildcats last beat the Mavericks twice in one season in 2013.

But Oak Ridge scored seven runs in the fourth inning against Anderson County at Bobby Hopkins Park on Monday. They had one run in the first inning, tying the game until the fourth inning, and three in the fifth. Oak Ridge shortstop Logan Williams hit a single that allowed center fielder Jaycen McGhee to score the winning run in the fifth inning, Garrison said.

With the win, the Wildcats are now 8-8 overall and 3-3 in District 3-AAA, right in the middle of the district standings. [Read more…]

Wildcats celebrate team win over Walker Valley

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After an 11-0 loss to Walker Valley on Tuesday, Oak Ridge squeezed past the Mustangs 9-8 with two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning at home on Thursday, March 30, 2017. It was considered a big team win. Oak Ridge junior Jacob Ownby (44) scored the tying run, and senior Brice Mlekodaj scored the winning run on a two-strike "squeeze," or bunt by freshman Donovan Black. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

After an 11-0 loss to Walker Valley on Tuesday, Oak Ridge squeezed past the Mustangs 9-8 with two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning at home on Thursday, March 30, 2017. It was considered a big team win. Oak Ridge junior Jacob Ownby (44) scored the tying run, and senior Brice Mlekodaj (6), front left, scored the winning run on a two-strike “squeeze,” or bunt, by freshman Donovan Black. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

After an 11-0 loss to Walker Valley on Tuesday, Oak Ridge squeezed past the Mustangs 9-8 at home on Thursday.

It was considered a big team win. Down by one late in the game, the Wildcats (5-7) scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to take the victory. They had already battled back from an 0-4 deficit earlier in the game.

“It was a great team effort,” Oak Ridge Coach Mark Garrison said.

The Wildcats tied the Mustangs 7-7 in the sixth inning with help from a two-run double by Logan Williams. The junior was 4-of-5 at bat and he didn’t give up any runs on the mound, Garrison said.

Walker Valley (7-4) took a one-run 8-7 lead in the top of the ninth inning. [Read more…]