Adding to the record book…Cyclones down South 9-3 to notch third straight District 1-AA baseball title
Published 9:06 am Friday, May 10, 2019
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton’s Jacob Mullins goes into second base head first on a successful steal as South’s second baseman awaits the throw.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cyclone starting pitcher Lawson Wagner was Mr. Cool on Wednesday night as the senior notched another win on the big stage of the District 1-AA championship.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Sullivan South’s third baseman goes up high for an errant throw from the catcher as Elizabethton’s Evan Carter slides in safely. Carter would score on the play.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Lawson Wagner soft tosses the baseball into the waiting glove of first baseman Cooper Tipton to record an out for the Cyclones.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Players and coaches from Sullivan South and Elizabethton gather in a prayer circle before the start of the District 1-AA baseball game Wednesday evening.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders The Cyclone players celebrate their championship with a dogpile at the pitching mound after Elizabethton’s 9-3 win over South.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton claimed their third straight District 1-AA championship in a convincing 9-3 win over the Sullivan South Rebels on Wednesday night at TVA Credit Union Ballpark in Johnson City.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Four Cyclones were named to the District 1-AA All-Tourney team including (L-R) MVP Evan Carter, Matthew Dailey, Jaden Anderson, and Lawson Wagner.
Star Photo/Sydney Goodsell Elizabethton head coach Ryan Presnell along members of the local media received a victorious ice bath from a trio of Cyclone players after the contest.
JOHNSON CITY— With the way the Elizabethton Cyclone baseball team continues to play, the athletic department may have to go out and purchase another record book as the Cyclones continue to log new entries every day.
Wednesday was another one of those milestone days as Elizabethton brought home its third straight District 1-AA baseball title with a 9-3 win over South who had previously defeated Sullivan East 10-7 to advance to the title shot.
Once again, the Cyclones (24-7) put the baseball in the hands of senior submarine-style pitcher Lawson Wagner and the Roane State signee responded with another no-nonsense outing throwing strikes and allowing his defense to make plays behind him to earn the win in a complete-game effort.
“I was just doing my thing,” said Wagner after the contest. “I was out here last year against Unicoi County just throwing strikes and doing my best.
“It made it a lot more comfortable and a lot easier out there having those runs on the board. We got a little unfocused but once we all came back together and started working on our hitting and getting our timing down against pitchers throwing slower that we don’t normally see that’s what worked for us.”
The Cyclones took what the South defense was willing to give building a 3-0 lead after three innings of play with the runs coming as a result of Rebel miscues that Elizabethton was more than happy to exploit.
As a matter of fact, the Cyclones weren’t exactly tearing the cover off the baseball in the contest gathering only a half dozen base hits in the game, but a couple of those came at crucial times when the bases contained Cyclone runners.
The big inning came in the fifth when Elizabethton flipped the scoreboard five times to gain control of the contest edging out to an 8-0 lead.
From there, the Cyclone defense backed their pitcher up aside from a couple of errors in the seventh inning that allowed the Rebels to score twice before settling to retire the side and end the game.
All-tourney selection Jaden Anderson had two hits to lead the Cyclone attack while Bryson Rollins took advantage of his opportunities to drive in two Cyclone runs.
Evan Carter, the tournament’s MVP, was pitched around in his at-bats drawing three base-on-balls in the contest.
Wagner, also an All-Tourney selection, tossed the complete game giving up seven hits and walked two Rebel batters while sitting down seven on strikeouts.
Cyclone third baseman Matthew Dailey and winning pitcher in Elizabethton’s win over South in the first meeting was tabbed to the All-Tourney team as well.
When it came time to make the call on the starting pitcher, Elizabethton head coach Ryan Presnell knew what he was getting with Wagner, a pitcher that the Cyclones haven’t had to utilize that much to this point in the season.
“He pretty much did the same thing in the same game last year and I talked about how sometimes you want him to get a little keyed up,” said Presnell of the calm approach Wagner takes to the mound.
“It’s like, “Lawson are you with us brother.” It serves him so well with what he does and it’s such an important part of the type of pitcher he is that when he goes to college nothing is going to faze the kid.
“I have zero doubt they are going to get the same result out of the bullpen with no pressure and nobody watching.”
Presnell went on to talk about the success of the team from day one coming from the fact that everyone, including his four seniors this season, got on board right away.
“It says a lot about these seniors,” Presnell stated. “I came in my first year and they just really bought in.
“I had to do some crazy things that we were talking about today when you do something like this you have to make sure that everybody’s bought in and those four guys bought in from day one.
“The fact that I have my two guys that are hurt sitting over with the coaches and loving on each other and loving on coaches just says a lot about them.”
The Cyclones will take on the loser of the Claiborne and Greeneville game on Monday in a regional home contest.
