Munford baseball finishes second at Class AAA state tournament

Saturday’s Class 3A state title game at Siegel High Schoo in Murfreesboro didn’t go as Cougars fans and played hoped, but the Munford baseball team’s postseason run will go down was one of the best in school history.

After going 3-0 in bracket play, the Cougars lost to Greeneville 10-0 in the title game.

“Thanks for the ride boy,” head coach Scotty Yount said. “You guys inspired a small town and raised the bar even higher.”

It was the program’s fourth state title game appearance and first since 2003. In Yount’s eight years as head coach, the Cougars have won 179 games, made it to sectionals five times and advanced to state three times.

One bad inning proved to be Munford’s undoing in Saturday’s title game. Greeneville scored six runs in the sixth to go ahead 7-0 and Munford, despite six hits, was never able to recover. Brodie Fortner, Houston Yount, Curly Lowry, Braden Hawkins, Jaxzen Scheidt and Jase Greenland each had one hit for the Cougars, which left six men on base.

Here’s a quick look at each of Munford’s three other games:

Munford 4 – Anderson County 2

Fortner struck out six and allowed just five hits over 6.1 innings for the win in the tournament opener last Wednesday.

Noah Lowry hit a two-run homer for the Cougars and Hawkins and Curly Lowry each doubled. Yount was 2 for 3 at the plate and recorded the last two outs pitching to earn the save.

Munford 7 – White House 3

Stephen Kemp struck out four and scattered 10 hits in a complete-game effort for the win last Thursday.

Noah Lowry (who also doubled,) and Fortner each homered to pace the offense. Drew Greenland singled for one of Munford’s five hits. Munford scored in each of the first three innings and added two crucial insurance runs in the top of the seventh.

Munford 5 – Tullahoma 2

Drew McCann became the third straight Munford pitcher to put together a strong performance. He struck out two, walked just one and held Tullahoma to just six hits over seven innings to earn the win.

Curly Lowry was 3 for 3 at the plate with a double and two RBIs and Greenland added a double. Yount and Scheidt each singled for Munford and Hudson Wright drove in a run.