Tigers rebound from Heritage loss to rough up Ridgeland

It was a long first week for the Ringgold Tigers, who opened the season with three victories in Savannah.

The Blue-and-White returned to the familiar confines of Catoosa County this past week, going 2-1 against two local rivals to start out the season with a 5-1 overall record, heading into a another tough set of games this week.

Heritage 10, Ringgold 2

The Tigers, ranked No. 7 in Class AAA, traveled down the road to face the Generals on Friday and took one on the chin against their county neighbors from Class AAAA.

The two clubs are slated to meet again at Ringgold on Thursday.

Heritage jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Tigers would strike back with two runs in the fourth.

Noah Parrish touched up Heritage starter Cole Wilcox for a two-run blast to leftcenter after Rhett Baldwin had reached base on an error. The Tigers would later put runners on the corners with two outs, but Wilcox coaxed a groundball for the third out to escape further damage.

But any hopes of a comeback would be short-lived as the Generals responded with a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth against a pair of Ringgold relievers.

Nathan Camp started on the hill and took the loss for the Tigers, allowing five hits and four walks in 2.2 innings with two strikeouts.

Andrew Tarver, Ringgold’s splendid sophomore, was 2-for3 with a walk. Tyler Nichols also went 2-for-3, while Holden Tucker and Gavin Hollis had one single apiece.

Ringgold 10, Ridgeland 0

There wasn’t much time for the Tigers to lick their wounds as the then-unbeaten Panthers rolled into town for a Saturday doubleheader. But the home team would raise the 2017 curtain on Bill Womack Field with a five-inning victory in Game 1.

Tucker moved to 2-0 on the season, allowing five hits and striking out five in five innings’ of work.

Baldwin had two hits and a pair of RBIs for the Tigers. Tarver and Parrish were both 2-for-4 with one RBI and Hunter Ricketts finished 2-for3.

Ringgold 12, Ridgeland 2

In Game 2, Baldwin got the win and went 2-for-4 in a 12-2 victory. Tucker and Camp helped out by going 3-for-4. Parrish was 2-for-4 with three runs driven in, while Tarver added two more hits.

Ringgold (5-1) will host still-unbeaten Dalton at 5:55 p.m. on Tuesday before entertaining Heritage on Thursday. They will play Northwest on Saturday at 1:30 at AT&T Field.