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After a pair of one-run losses to open the season, Morristown East picked up its first win of the Justin Hite era with a 10-2 win over Cocke County.

After letting up two runs in the first, East rallied for 10 unanswered runs, and the game was eventually called in the bottom of the fifth due to the time limit.

“We saw one of their top arms, we’re spraying line drives all over the field and we’re so aggressive on the base pass,” Hite said. “I mean, we should have scored some more. We had two guys thrown out the plate, but just trying to make something happen, you know. But I reminded them after the last two games, I said, ‘When you keep knocking on the door it’s going to open.’”

For Hite, the win is just the first step in his quest to change the culture of ‘Canes baseball.

“We’re doing the things we need to,” Hite said. “We’re shoring up the defense, but at the end of the day, we’ve learned to deal with failure, because baseball is a game of dealing with failure. How do we handle success? So I want to see the same drive tomorrow, the same aggressiveness, and if this group is who I think they are, we’re getting ready to shock some people.”

“At the end of the day, it’s not about me, you know, I’m just trying to set this culture to where I want it to go. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that this ain’t awesome. You know, and I keep reminding myself that I’m coaching on the field that Coach Harry Price coached on. I’m wearing the same uniform my dad wore, and to me to get a win with my dad in attendance and my mom. You can’t ask for any better.”

Another first for the ‘Canes was freshman Maddox Winstead appearing on the mound. In his first start, Winstead took some time to get going, but after two one-out runs in the first inning, the freshman pitched zeroes the rest of the night.

He allowed seven hits but just one earned run to go with three strikeouts.

“Maddox Winstead is a freshman that goes out there and just pounds the zone we have a little verse in the first inning. He fights back through it, throws up a bunch of zeros. I just got through telling him you’re not a freshman anymore.

Hite made it a point to credit the middle school program in Winstead’s development.

“It’s a big testament to what Coach Jeffers did with the middle school program and what we’ve done with the middle school program now with Coach Hasselbush,” Hite said. “These guys have played a lot of games, and I went out just to check on him before the game, and he’s like, ‘They don’t know what’s coming, coach.’ So, I’ll go to bat with those guys, and that’s the guys you go to battle with, and he’s gonna see a lot of time on the mound for us this year.”

In addition to Maddox Winstead’s performance on the mound, the ‘Canes saw every player in the batting order pick up a hit.

Down 2-0, Trooper Rader and Maddox Winstead, both freshmen, got the offense going with a pair of RBI singles to tie it in the second frame.

They were followed by a Parker Setsor RBI-double that was inches away from a home run to take the lead in the bottom of the third, and Brett Carden added an RBI single during a three-run frame.

To further stretch the lead, Tucker Wyatt drove in two runs with a double in the fourth and later scored on an error to make it 8-2.

The ‘Canes tacked on two runs in the bottom of the fifth and had bases loaded before the game was called early.

“They were just competing,” Hite said. “We keep talking about we’re going to hunt fast balls and we’re going to compete against the ball. And I thought we did a great job at that tonight. We didn’t chase a lot of breaking stuff. And, you know, when they challenged fast balls, we put barrels on it.”

East looks to continue building momentum under Hite, And it hosted Grainger on Friday and Tennessee High on Saturday.