Trojans, Rattlers set for rematch at regional tourney
Two months ago, Parkers Chapel and Murfreesboro met in the first week of the season.
Now the Trojans and Rattlers will collide with a berth in the state tournament at stake.
On Thursday, the schools will renew acquaintances in the opening round of the 2A South Regional Tournament.
Game time is set for 3 p.m. from Poyen.
The Trojans (22-7) are the No. 1 seed from the 7-2A East, while the Rattlers (8-15) are the No. 4 seed from the 7-2A West.
In their first encounter, the Trojans cruised to a 14-3 road win with Carson Worthey going 2-for-2 with a home run, three RBIs and four runs scored.
For Murfreesboro coach Marc McRae, the results from that game don’t mean much, especially considering back in 2016, the Rattlers beat the Trojans 21-11 in the regular season, but when they met in the first round of the regional tournament, Murfreesboro and Parkers Chapel played a nine-inning thriller with the Rattlers prevailing 2-1.
“From our standpoint, it doesn’t matter what happened in that first game at all,” McRae said. “You can’t tell anything from that point. We’ve both played 20-something baseball games since that point, so you can really take that game with a grain of salt. Going back to two years ago when we played them in the regional, they came to our place that year, and I believe we beat them something like 20-5, and it turned into 2-1 in nine innings in the regional. In my opinion, you can’t pay any attention to what happened in that first game. It doesn’t mean anything going into this game.”
Parkers Chapel coach Mark Looney agreed.
“We played them the first week of the season,” Looney said. “We went to their place and won the game 14-3, but that was two months ago. They’re a different team now. We’re a different team. I look for them to give us a tough game. I know Marc McRae does a good job.
He’s a good baseball guy. He’ll have them fired up and ready to play.”
Although both teams are young, the Rattlers start five freshmen with senior J.C. Motley serving as the lone holdover from the Rattlers’ win over the Trojans in the regional tournament two years ago.
The Rattlers have shown their youth at times during the season, and although they enter the regional tournament having lost eight of their last 10 games, they have delivered when the chips have been down.
“As you would expect when you’re starting five freshmen, we are at times going to make some pretty young mistakes,” McRae said.
“That’s what we have had going on at times, but I’ve been real proud of this group, because coming into this year, everyone kind of knew the expectations of us with it being what some would call a rebuilding year.
“Any time you’re starting five freshmen, you can kind of count that as what that would be. Not many people gave us an opportunity or a chance for us to even be in a regional. We won games when we had to win them. Good, bad, ugly, it didn’t matter. We came out with the wins, and that’s what matters.
“I’m proud of this group because they were able to fight through some adversity throughout the year. Our record isn’t outstanding, but when we had to win baseball games, we’ve been able to win them to give us the next opportunity. I think it’s big for our program and big moving forward.”
For Looney, the Rattlers are a dangerous opponent.
“They’re going to come
in and play with nothing to lose,” Looney said. “They’re the type of team where the expectations aren’t out of the roof. When you face teams like that, they can be very dangerous.
“They’ll come in loose and give it everything they can. If they lose, they were supposed to. If they win, it will probably be the biggest upset of the tournament, so I’ve got to keep my kids physically and mentally prepared.
“It’s like I’ve told them all year long. We respect everybody that we play, but we fear no one. That’s pretty much the attitude that they’ve taken. We’ve got some good wins, but we’ve got a couple of bad losses, too.
“If we don’t show up to play, our season is over. Even though we don’t have a senior-heavy team, we do have a lot of boys that’s played a lot of baseball, and I don’t think they want their season to end Thursday evening.”
Motley, a four-year starter, plays at shortstop when he isn’t on the mound, and he has been invaluable for McRae given the youth of his team.
“He’s a good one for me,” McRae said. “He definitely the backbone of what we’ve got this year. He’s been a leader for us and a guy that we can count on.”
All of the freshmen have had their moments for the Rattlers, but McRae has been pleased with Gavin Rawls, who has stepped to the forefront by leading the team in innings pitched, and he also serves as a utility player having played shortstop, left field and catcher depending on who is on the mound.
McRae also singled out junior catcher Zayne Flaherty for how he has handled the pitching staff.
The Trojans and Rattlers have become familiar foes in recent years thanks to their non-conference clashes, and McRae said he is expecting the Trojans to be at their best
Thursday.
“Any time that we’re playing Parkers Chapel, we’re expecting a good, quality opponent,” McRae said.
“Coach Looney is a great coach who has been doing it a long time, so you know they’re going to be prepared to play. We know we’re going to have a good, competitive game coming in to it. Hopefully, we can come out and play well and see what happens.”
The Trojans have been on a roll since mid-March having won 16 of their last 19 games that featured a 10-game winning streak.
“The kids have played really well the last month of the season,” Looney said. “Coming off of spring break, I couldn’t ask them to play much better than what they have. They’ve lost two ballgames since spring break. Some days, they’ve played really well. Some days, they’ve played well enough to win.”
The Trojans’ winning streak was snapped at Spring Hill, but despite the loss, the Trojans were able to secure the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament by winning a tiebreaker, and Looney thought the loss allowed his team to regroup.
“We had a chance to win that ballgame,” Looney said. “We had the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh, and we only managed to score one. I tell my kids that when those opportunities arise, somebody has got to step up to the plate and get that timely hit or hits and win the ballgame. It didn’t happen that day.
“That particular day, we made three errors in the first inning and gave them three unearned runs after a home run. We looked up and it was 4-0, and when you get behind like that, it puts you in a hole. You’re playing catch-up the whole time.
“It was a good learning experience, and sometimes you need a little
reset to get refocused. I think they’re focused. They bounced back and played real well against Harmony Grove.”
Speed has been a focal point for the Trojans in 2018.
Entering the regional tournament, the Trojans have swiped 176 bases, just one off their state record of 177 set back in 2011.
Freshman Trace Shoup leads the team with 33 stolen bases, and the Trojans have seven players with 10 or more steals with senior Reece Griffin just two away from making it eight.
“I knew we had a lot of speed when the season started, and one of our goals was to steal as many bases as we could,” Looney said. “I expect to break our old state record.”
If the Rattlers are to upend the Trojans, McRae said his team must be sound defensively.
“We’re going to have to come out and play a pretty solid game,” McRae said. “What that means is we’re going to have to make plays on the defensive end.
“I think that we’ll be able to put the ball in play some, but it’s really going to come down to just making the routine plays in the field. If we’re able to do that, I think we might find ourselves in a competitive game. If we’re not making those plays in the field, it’s going to be tough on us.”
Looney also believes that defense will be a key for his team.
“We’ve got to play good defense,” Looney said. “Our pitcher has got to throw strikes. We can’t give up free passes. We’ve got to score some runs when we get runners in scoring position.
“We’re going to continue to do what we do, which is try to get on, try to steal a few bases, move the runners. Just play fundamental, small baseball if we
have to. We’re going to be aggressive on the bases and do what we have to do to move that runner
up and get him in. That’s what we’ve done all year, and we’ll see how far it takes us.”