St. George refused to go gently into that good night in its battle with Lakeway Christian early thursday afternoon.

Facing elimination in the state title game, St. George fell behind 2-0 in the early going but fought back to take the game 11-2 and force an ‘if necessary game’ later Thursday evening.

Lakeway pitching struggled allowing seven walks, 10 hits and 9 earned runs.

Lakeway also committed a pair of errors that allowed the other two runs to score.

One win away from the state title, Lakeway showed no nerves early, jumping ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the second.

Jack Hamilton led off the half inning with a double to left.

After a flyout and a walk to Kyler Worsham, Chase Gregory singled to bring Hamilton home.

Diego Pinella’s base knock brought Worsham home.

The Griffins rallied in the top half of the third, plating six runs to take control. A bases-loaded balk brought the first run home.

Singles from West Smith and Rollin Crose plated three more runs.

An error with the bases loaded allowed two more runs to score.

The ‘if necessary’ title game was scheduled for after Citizen Tribune press time. For more updates, go online to www.citizen tribune.com.

Lakeway rallies to advance to title game

MURFREESBORO – Chase Gockenbach has delivered on the mound and at the plate all season long for the Lakeway Christian Academy Lions. On Wednesday, he did it again and this time, it was on the biggest stage.

Gockenbach’s single to right field brought Diego Pinella around for the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Lions advanced to the state championship game with a 5-4 win over St. George’s. The Gryphons dropped into the consolation bracket where they downed Webb-Bell Buckle 7-2 late Wednesday night so the Lions will face St. George’s again for the state title where they would have to beat LCA twice to win the championship.

Daniel Rodriguez started the game and pitched 5.2 innings with seven strikeouts and two walks before being relieved by Jovin Willems who had three K’s in 1.1 innings of work. Gockenbach threw the final inning and picked up the win as he had two strikeouts. Luke Burnette went 3-for-3 with two walks and Hudson Ford was 2-for-4 at the plate as the duo led the Lions’ offense.

The two teams had to wait to start as a lightning delay moved the game to a 4 p.m. start time. St. George scored first when Quinn Showalter doubled in a run in the third inning and later in the fifth, Chancelor Shipp hit a solo shot to right field. LCA’s first trip across the plate came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Bryson Allen brought in Eried Chang with a groundout. The Gryphons took a 4-1 lead in the top of the sixth when Xander Kollias had an infield single that allowed Rollin Crose to come around.

With their backs against the wall and trailing by three going to the bottom of the seventh inning, the Lions went to work as they loaded the bases on a Burnett single, a hit by pitch by Gockenbach and an Allen single to left. Burnette scored on Jack Hamilton’s ground out and after Bryson Miller scored on a passed ball, Ford was the man of the hour as he had an RBI single to center field that tied the game at 4-4. The game went to extra innings as St. George’s threatened as they got the winning run on base via a walk. Gockenbach got what he needed as Pinella and Chang combined behind him on a fielder’s choice to get the runner out at second on a fielder’s choice and then the Lions’ hurler got a huge strikeout for the third out.

Pinella drew the base on balls in the home half of the eighth inning and went to third on a two-out single by Burnett. That set things up for Gockenbach’s game-winner on the next play. LCA enters the state championship game with a 27-14 overall record and has won seven of their last nine games.