Chaffee baseball team exacts revenge vs. Scott County Central

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- They weren't going to let the Scott County Central Braves sneak up on them this time.

The Chaffee Red Devils, fueled by their loss to the Braves last season, withstood a furious SCC rally to win their eighth game of the year Tuesday, a 12-6 decision.

"It was the same situation last year," Chaffee junior Alex Davie said. "We were up by a lot and hit the cruise control button and they shot us down and ended up losing last year."

Bryan Freed hit a walk-off triple to help the Braves clip Chaffee 7-6 in nine innings a season ago.

"We didn't want that to happen this year," Davie said.

The Red Devils got an early start to their revenge game by pushing across five runs in the first two innings and then two more in the fourth to go up 7-0.

"It was definitely a revenge game for Chaffee," SCC coach Matt Limbaugh said. "They said that from the very beginning of the game that those Chaffee kids have been wanting this for awhile. They came out right from the get-go and proved they did."

It looked like Chaffee was going to breeze past the Braves after Davie retired the Braves in order through four innings.

But a five-run barrage by SCC in the fifth inning put some doubt in the Red Devils' plans.

SCC No. 9 hitter Blake Pobst worked a bases-loaded walk to put the Braves on the board for the first time. Bryan Freed then knocked a two-run double to left-center field, and Nathan Holland smacked a two-run single.

The Braves sliced Chaffee's lead to 7-5.

"You give the guys credit for trying to make the comeback," Limbaugh said. "You look at that as a positive, but for some reason, we can't jump out to a good first few innings. We're starting the fourth, fifth, sixth innings. You can't expect to do that and be a good ballclub."

SCC collected six hits in the fifth inning, but it was helped by a few mental lapses by the Chaffee defense.

"There were a few opportunities where we could have got out of the inning and we didn't take advantage of them," Chaffee coach Brian Horrell said. "You give a good team like Scott County extra outs, they're going to take advantage of them, and that's what they did."

SCC cut its two-run deficit in half during the top of the sixth when Kamryn Johnson scored on a fielder's choice. Johnson hit a single up the middle to lead off the inning and end Davie's day on the mound.

The Chaffee left-hander threw five innings and gave up all six runs on six hits, all in the fifth inning.

"I thought he threw the ball exceptionally well," Horrell said. "They were hitting the ball, but we were making plays behind him. The inning he had trouble he forgot to cover first base twice as a pitcher. I'm not 100 percent sure we would have got the outs, but there were a couple opportunities where we could have got out of the inning."

Davie did spark Chaffee's biggest inning of the day when he stroked a one-hopper to the center-field fence for a double in the bottom of the sixth. Trevor Cannon ended SCC starter Josh Boese's day on the mound with an RBI single that scored Davie.

Mental mistakes didn't elude the Braves either. They committed six errors.

"We were happy to be 2-0, but we know we're not where we need to be," Limbaugh said. "A lot of mental mistakes cost us today and you can't make that many mistakes and expect to win a ballgame."

SCC 000 051 0 -- 6

Chaffee 320 205 x -- 12

WP -- Alex Davie. LP -- Josh Boese. 2B -- Dustin Johnson (S), Bryan Freed (S), Cody Payne (C), Davie (C).