B

Morristown East baseball ended a long losing streak with a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning Monday night at Sherwood Park to snap the streak on Senior Night.

The Hurricanes scored three times in the sixth and downed visiting Northview Academy, 6-4.

With the win, East improved to 3-24 for the season and snapped a 13-game losing streak in the process. The Cougars slipped to 9-14 with the loss.

The visitors scored a run in the top of the sixth to take the lead before winning pitcher Brodie Winstead struck out two batters to end the rally.

East came to the plate and the first batter grounded out. But Carson Winstead walked. Brice Epps walked and Blake Creech smacked a drive to right center that scored two runs. The throw to third in trying to get Creech was way to high off the screen and the umpires motioned Creech to the plate on the error.

Winstead went back to the mound and put the Cougars down in order to preserve the victory. Winstead relieved starter Eli Seals after one batter in the second and finished up to get the victory.

He gave up four hits and three runs as the Hurricanes rallied.

East coach J. D. Newsom stated, “It was great to get a win for our two seniors on senior night. Eli Seals and Winstead were honored.

“We needed this victory,” he added. “We needed something good to happen. Hopefully, we can carry this over into the district tournament on Wednesday.”

The Hurricanes will face regular season District two 4-A champion Sevier County in the first round at 5 p.m. with Morristown West and Jefferson County doing battle at 7:30.

Newsom said, “This was a good baseball team we beat. Fortunately, we didn’t walk a lot of batters or give them a bunch of free bases on errors. We played well.”

The coach said, “We played well offensively and defensively and we pitched the ball well.”

Seals, who will be on the mound for the district opener, left with one out in the second. He gave up two unearned runs, hit one and struck out two.

Winstead, who along with Seals are the East seniors, went six innings while giving up four hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out three.

The Cougars took the lead in the top of the first when Keaton Bremez singled in a pair of runners.

East tied the score in its half of the first as Lane Grizzell was hit by a pitch and Isaac Greene singled. Ethan Shockley put down a bunt and the pitcher threw wildly to first allowing both runners to score.

Grizzell walked and scored on a double by Seals to put the ‘Canes ahead but a throwing error allowed two runs to score in the fourth as the Cougars regained the lead.

However, the Hurricanes staged their own comeback and picked up the victory.

Morristown West 5, Cocke County 1

Morristown West won their fourth straight game on Monday evening, taking down Cocke County to close out the regular season at 14-15.

The Trojans started the scoring off in the second as Bryson Shepard hit a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. In the third, the Trojans added two more runs as Bryson Jenkins hit a two-run homer to make it 3-0.

Cocke County got on the board in the fourth with a run, but West scored two more in the sixth as Watson smacked a solo homer and Riley Short hit an RBI single.

West will open up the postseason on Wednesday, taking on Jefferson County. The game is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Sevier County High School.