HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Despite more brilliant pitching, the Lake Norman Copperheads bore to the last against the Tennessee Tornado last night, winning 2-1 in 12 innings to draw even in the standings yet again.
All-star Tommy Jablonski executed a suicide squeeze to score Brian Litwin for the win, a fitting way to manufacture the deciding run as Lake Norman only had five hits all night.
Shane Grimm held off the Copperheads during his start, six innings of shutout ball on only four hits with three strikeouts. Jake Peeling and Sean Albury took care of the seventh and eighth innings, striking out two apiece. In the ninth, however, SCBL saves leader Jason Trivette couldn’t pick up this one, as he allowed the Copperheads to tie it up, allowing an earned run with a walk and a strikeout, then holding them scoreless in the tenth. Ultimately, Luis Lopez allowed the deciding run and took the loss to fall to 1-1, allowing a single hit.
Steve Scoby led the offensive charge, reaching base six times including three walks, two hits and one hit-by-pitch. Julian McWilliams finished 2-5, and both Jean Carlos Diaz and Sam Eberle recorded a hit. However, the middle of the Tornado order, the three-through-six-spots, went just 3-18 all night.
“We hit a lot of hard balls but the Copperheads made a ton of great plays to keep us off the bases,” said Head Coach Phil Al-Mateen.
With the loss the Tornado and Copperheads are both 23-12, vying for the top seed in the SCBL tournament here. Lake Norman snapped Tennessee’s five-game road winning streak and brought the season series between the teams to 5-2, Tennessee leading. Four of the seven meetings this season, including the last three in a row, have been decided by one run.
If the season ended today, Tennessee would be the top seed by virtue of a tiebreaker. Their road trip continues tomorrow at Morganton, where Tennessee looks to make it two in a row at Shuey Field. The first pitch happens at 7 p.m.
