Dramatic threepeat for CAK
MURFREESBORO — Christian Academy of Knoxville added another state title baseball plaque to its trophy case last week.
The Warriors claimed their third consecutive state title on the diamond in walk-off fashion when they edged Nashville’s Christ Presbyterian Academy 3-2 Thursday, May 23, at Middle Tennessee State University’s Reese Smith Jr. Field.
Connor Jurek was the hero in the Division II-A state championship game. His two-out single in the bottom of the eighth inning plated Hunter Loyd with the winning run against the Lions.
Jurek’s game-winning hit followed his stellar outing on the mound, where he kept CPA off the scoreboard in the top of the frame. He relieved starter Zane Keener, a University of Tennessee signee who went seven strong innings despite being hampered by an injured hamstring.
Keener allowed two runs (one earned), six hits and three walks.
He struck out nine Lions before leaving the mound after walking CPA’s leadoff hitter in the eighth.
“I wasn’t sure if he could pitch. I wasn’t sure that he should’ve pitched,” CAK head coach Tommy Pharr said. “But he told me that he wanted the ball and he earned the right to get it.
“And he did a great job.”
Keener, who had two hits in a tournament-opening 3-2 walk-off win over the Lions Tuesday, May 21, at LaVergne High School, re-aggravated his hamstring injury.
But also contributed with his bat on the season’s final day, going 1-for-3 and scoring a run for CAK (36-9), which won its second straight Division II-A state crown.
CAK also had the Division II-A Mr. Baseball Award winner in senior Jacob Tate, who threw a complete game in their first showdown against the Lions. He surrendered three runs, nine hits and a walk while striking out seven.
Tate went 2-for-4 with a homer, and three runs batted in. Austin Kribbs also clubbed a home run in that game.
A University Kentucky signee, Tate had two hits and drove in a pair of runs in the title tilt.
It was Pharr’s fourth at the school in 10 seasons and his ninth in an illustrious coaching career.
“We have one senior, Jackson Scott, who didn’t get a lot of playing time on the field. But he was a team leader for us,” Pharr said.
