Black Knights still competing for playoff spot
Hayesville – On the surface, everything that the Black Knights have clawed and scraped at this season was lost Monday.
Nothing could be further from the truth – there’s still a lot of baseball and a lot of scenarios that could easily play out in Robbinsville’s favor.
A highly-anticipated trip to Hayesville was mired in errors, as the Black Knights watched their chance at the program’s first-ever Smoky Mountain Conference title all but slip through the cracks in an 11-1 loss. As it stands at Wednesday’s press deadline, Robbinsville (10-4, 7-2) would have to win out and Hayesville (13-2, 10-0) would have to lose its final two divisional games in order for the Knights to attain championship gold.
The two teams will meet to wrap up the season series Friday at Loudon Orr Memorial Field; the Black Knights then have Murphy (4-8, 4-5) scheduled for a home/away tilt that will conclude the regular season Tuesday and Thursday, May 2. Hayesville is scheduled to face Andrews (0-11, 0-8) in a make-up game today before checking in at Robbinsville High.
But thrust all the gloom and doom aside: the Knights still have a lot of positives to look at in the 7-day forecast. Sitting alone at second in the conference, Robbinsville is in line to snap a 13-year playoff drought and with Friday’s win over Hiwassee Dam (4-8, 4-4), surpassed the 10-win mark for the first time since 2010.
And they have a legitimate chance to add to the triumph column before all is said and done.
Robbinsville started its most-recent schedule by taming the Rosman Tigers (1-16) in a home, non-conference 12-6 victory April 18; before completing the season sweep of the Eagles, 8-1.
The win over Rosman quickly evolved into the Graylen Orr show. He went 3-for-4 at the plate, driving in two runs and coming up a home run shy of the evasive cycle. Quinn Jumper also continued his hot tear, finishing 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs of his own.
Luke Lovin (1-1) improved to 1-1 on the hill, lasting 6 ⅔ innings. Bryc Garrison toed the rubber for the final out.
Ethan Orr (4-2) then manned the mound Friday against Hiwassee Dam, doling out 11 strikeouts and dropping his ERA to 1.04 while logging a complete game.
To pad their side of the score column, the Knights capitalized on Eagles senior Clay Davis’ control issues. Dayne Webster drew a one-out, bases-loaded walk to score Avery Webster in the bottom of the second, before Graylen Orr was plunked by a pitch two batters later to bring in Tytan Teesateskie.
Jumper later trotted across home on a third-inning error, before doubling in Graylen Orr and Garrison in the fourth. He collected his third RBI in the sixth, doubling in Garrison; before Ethan Orr and Jumper scored on consecutive errors.
At Hayesville, Garrison helped Robbinsville draw first blood by scoring on an error during the Knights’ first time up. The Jackets trailed until putting up five in the bottom of the second – a lead they held until cashing in on an error-riddled sixth that eventually brought the game to its early close.
Graylen Orr fell to 5-1 in the loss, striking out four in five innings of work.