Dyer County baseball takes Region 7-3A runner-up honors

 

Jason Peevyhouse

Editor, JP Productions Sports

The Dyer County Choctaws are two wins away from returning to the TSSAA Class 3A State Tournament for the first time in two years after the orange and white bounced back from a loss in the Region 7-3A title game on Saturday afternoon at Henderson. The Choctaws came back later in the day to take down Lexington 6-4 in the region consolation bracket final.

The Choctaws got on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a run to take the lead. Landon Daniels led off the frame with a single then scored on an error to put the orange and white on top 1-0 after one inning.

Dyer County doubled its lead in the bottom of the second. Carson Nevels led off the frame with a walk then scored later in the frame on an error to put Dyer County on top 2-0 after two innings.

The Choctaw offense broke through with multiple runs in the bottom of the following frame. Jake Stanley reached on a one-out error then scored on a Seth Headtke single. Carson Nevels doubled in a run later in the frame before Weston Sims scored on another Tiger error to put the Choctaws on top 5-0 after three innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Choctaws tacked on one last run as Landon Todd singled then scored when Bennett Black grounded into a fielder’s choice to put Dyer County up 6-0 heading into the fifth inning.

Lexington finally got on the board with two runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh before the Choctaws nailed down the win in the top of the final frame to advance to the TSSAA Class 3A Sectional Series.

Talon Messer picked up the win in relief, holding the Tigers to one hit over three innings of split work – starting the game then finishing it.

Nevels RBI double was the lone extra-base hit among the five Dyer County hits.

Earlier in the day, Dyer County was close on multiple occasions to getting their first win over the season against Crockett County before falling 5-4 to the Cavaliers in the Region 7-3A Championship Game.

After Crockett County tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth with a Kilburn three-run homer, the Choctaws had runners at third base in the sixth and seventh innings before both were stranded and sent the game into extra innings.

Crockett County was able to get the region championship on a walk-off Carter Winders home run to leadoff the bottom of the eighth.

Messer led Dyer County at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. The homer came in the top of the fifth and sparked a four-run frame by the Choctaws which also saw a Nevels RBI single.

The Choctaws will travel to Covington this week to face the Chargers in a best-of-three series for the right to go to the TSSAA Class 3A State Tournament in Murfreesboro.

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