Thompson Baseball Takes Down Huntsville in Style, Advances to State Quarterfinals

Thompson baseball is moving on to the state quarterfinals after a dominant opening round 6-3, 9-1 sweep of the Huntsville Panthers at Warrior Park Friday, April 28. 

Thompson was fueled by their senior starting pitchers Landon Alton and Zach Wyatt who allowed just one earned run across 14 innings as both took home complete game wins. Wyatt tied a season high with 11 strikeouts while going 3-4 at the plate in the game two victory.

When you have seniors on the mound it means more to them because this is their last ride,” said head coach Frankie Perez. “They’ve been doing this all year and when they pitch like that it allows the offense to settle down and we can just make adjustments.”

Alton was poised in his first postseason start and didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning of the day’s first game. 

In the meantime, his offense found some two out magic in the first three innings scoring four runs in that span. Drake McBride singled home a run in the second inning while Ethan Crook sent two teammates home in the third with a single to center field.

Thompson tacked on two more in the bottom of the  fifth for a 6-0 lead they would need down the stretch. Huntsville finally got on the board with some timely hitting and a couple of errors on the Warriors to cut the lead in half 6-3. However, they would get no closer with Alton firing his sixth strikeout across the plate and a clutch double play on a grounder to the mound to finish things off. 

Zach Wyatt took the dominance on the hill to another level as well, retiring the first 12 Panthers he faced. 

The Warriors jumped on Huntsville from the get go tagging them for three runs in the top of the first inning. Tucker Arrington doubled down the right field line, scoring Parker Edmondson and Parryn Bland. 

The teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning, but Thompson would have the final say. Wyatt drove in his two RBI of the game with a single to left field, sending Arrington and McBride home for a 7-1 lead. 

Tucker Arrington went 2-3 in two games, drawing five walks, driving in three RBI with three runs. Ethan Crook was 3-6 with three RBI and three walks. 

Thompson will head out on the road to face Bob Jones next week.