Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Braxton Cherry fires another strike during a commanding, no-hit, six strikeout performance at Robbinsville.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Thank you Cade. Thank you Braxton. And thank you very much Swain County.
Hayesville is poised to claim the 22nd Smoky Mountain Conference baseball title thanks to stellar pitching from Cade “King K” Caruso at Murphy, Braxton “Cherry” Cherry at Robbinsville and a little help from the Swain County Maroon Devils.
The Yellow Jackets can clinch their first SMC championship since 2021 with a win over visiting Robbinsville on Thursday.
“We’ll see if we can win this conference championship Thursday. Senior Day, last regular-season game, the kids should be pumped,” Coach Joe Jack Sellers said.
The Yellow Jackets were definitely pumped when Caruso pitched a brilliant 7-2 victory over the Bulldogs as Hayesville joined Murphy in a tie atop the SMC standings last week. The Jackets gained sole ownership of the SMC leadership when Swain upset Murphy, 8-4, Monday.
Tuesday, Cherry stymied Robbinsville in a 17-2 triumph as Hayesville remained in the driver’s seat and improved to 10-1 in the conference. Murphy is 9-2 with one game remaining — a rematch with Swain.
Cherry befuddled the Black Knights, 4-7 SMC, 7-12, with a blazing fastball and tantalizing off speed stuff, retiring the first eight Black Knights he faced — six of them on strikeouts and two on routine grounders — before being lifted when he reached the pitch count maximum.
With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Sellers gave the ball to Kendall Boyer, owner of an 8-to-1 strikeout/walk ratio. Boyer promptly induced an inning-ending fly to left field.
“Pitching and defense, of course, have been our bread and butter all year keeping us in games,” Seller remarked. “Great effort all around.”
Hayesville was sitting pretty with a 4-0 lead by then. The Yellow Jackets earned the four-spot with consecutive singles by Michael “Money” Mauney, Dakota “The Unloada” Matheson and Avery “Eveready” Leatherwood in the top of the third. Leatherwood’s poke brought in the first run. Matheson and courtesy runner Peyton McGaha made it 3-0 on an absurdly short 2-RBI single — an infield pop-up that fell untouched between the mound and second base. The next batter, Kyle Lunsford delivered an RBI-double. Hayesville 4, Robbinsville 0.
Matheson, whose .500 average is best in the SMC, came through again in the sixth, smoking a single to knock in Mauney and Tate “Rockin’” Roberts to up the advantage 8-1.
Hayesville sealed the win with a 9-run seventh. Once again, consecutive singles by the top of the order — Mauney, Matheson and Leatherwood — doomed Robbinsville. Lunsford added insult to injury with another RBI double, a monumental blast that bounced off the fence in left/center. Cade Denton, the 12th Hayesville batter in the inning, followed with a run-scoring single.
Great pitching — this time by Cade Caruso — was also the difference against SMC rival Murphy last week.
Hayesville 7, Murphy 2
Caruso only allowed three singles in the first six innings as Hayesville scored two runs in the second, two more in the fifth and three in the sixth.
“He pitched a great game,” Sellers said. “He was dominant. He threw really well.”
So did Chance Hughes, who came in with two outs and two on in the bottom of the seventh and got the final out on a pop-up.
While Caruso threw six innings of shutout ball, the Yellow Jackets stung Murphy with nine hits — two of them from the ever-reliable Matheson — and nine stolen bases in nine attempts.
Mauney had two steals and scored two runs, while Cherry and Roberts also had a pair of thefts. Leatherwood contributed two RBI with a scorching triple.
The defense was stingy as usual. Hayesville played errorless ball.
“They were focused, they knew what they had to do. They were ready to play,” Sellers said.
That was obvious in the top of the second when Hayesville drew first blood when Cherry singled, stole second and scooted home on an infield error that allowed Caldwell to reach first. Cherry came home on Denton’s sacrifice and Caldwell made it 2-0 on a balk.
The score remained 2-0 until Mauney reached on an error, swiped second and third and scored on a wild pitch. Matheson pushed the lead to 4-0 when he walked, stole and scored on Cherry’s sacrifice.
Murphy tried to come back in the fifth, by Mauney’s leaping catch of a line drive and throw to Lunsford at first for a double play killed the host’s hopes.
Hayesville put the game away in the top of the sixth when Roberts and Boyer hit back-to-back singles, Mauney walked and Leatherwood smoked a sinking liner that the right fielder futilely dove for. Hayesville 7, Murphy 0.
Yellow Jacket outfielders protected the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Roberts sprinted 20 feet to his left to glove a smash, Caldwell chased down a fly down the left field line also gloved the third out.
Caruso retired the first two batters in the seventh before yielding two singles and walk. Hughes got the call and recorded the final out.
That pop-up to Matheson prompted a Hayesville celebration, as players and coaches ran out to the scoreboard to jump up and touch the list of Murphy’s SMC championships while grim Bulldogs coaches watched.