Win No. 31 finds Diamond Ads taking down 3-AA champs
Owen Kovacs is accustomed to starting games on the mound for Farragut High School’s baseball team.
But the senior made a rare but extended relief appearance, six innings, sparkling on a night when he and the Admirals needed it.
“He was electric tonight and he really needed that because he was coming off a couple of so-so outings,” FHS head coach Matt Buckner said after the Admirals notched an 8-2 victory versus Pigeon Forge on Thursday, April 25, on Throwback Day at FHS’s John Heatherly Field/The Ballpark at Farragut. “He was terrific tonight and that was really good to see.”
The Tigers (20-4) scored in the top of the first on an RBI single by Matt Roller.
But the Admirals (31-2) limited the damage when they turned a double play.
Pigeon Forge got its only other run of the game in the second innings.
But again, Farragut limited its trouble with another double play.
Kovacs came in with nobody out in the second. He gave up a single by Bryce Efflin that allowed an inherited runner to score.
Kovacs surrendered three more hits and a walk.
But Farragut’s defense turned another double play in the fourth, as Kovacs had Pigeon Forge, the 2019 District 3-AA regular-season champion, baffled the rest of the way.
“My fastball was faster than it usually is and my changeup was really dipping,” Kovacs said. “This was a great game for us, and a great atmosphere.”
He had six strikeouts and fanned the side to end the game.
After falling behind early, the Admirals knotted the game in the bottom of the first with the help of some shaky defense by the Tigers.
Parker Noland had a one-out single and stole second. He later scored on the errant throw to make it 1-1.
Down 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning, the Admirals answered with two runs, helped by two more errors from the Tigers.
Hudson Seigler doubled and scored when Pigeon Forge committed an error on a successful sacrifice bunt by Hunter Merrick to re-tie the game.
The Ads pulled ahead a short time later.
Catcher Cal Stark was hit by a pitch and gave way to courtesy runner Tanner Corum, who took second on a wild pitch, stole third and came home on the throw that landed in left field.
Farragut scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth.
A two-run double by Ashton King plated Noland and Carter Gillette, who both singled.
The Admirals, who finished the game with nine hits, put things away with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Nick Barnes had an RBI double, while Gillette and King had scoring singles in the inning.
Buckner was pleased with the way his squad performed with wooden bats.
“We really got some good swings,” he said.
