The Huntland High School Hornets beat the Sequatchie County Indians 3-1 on the road on April 23 in the first game of a doubleheader.

The Hornets took the lead in the second inning of the five-inning contest and held off the Indians the rest of the way to start the day off with a victory.

The Indians scored their lone run for the game in the bottom of the first off of a two-out RBI double to make it a 1-0 game.

The Hornets answered back in the top of the second as Cayson Banks recorded a two-out, two-run single to give his team a 2-1 advantage.

The Hornets produced another run in the top of the fifth as Grant Jernigan hit a two-out single, moved up to second after Carson Riley drew a walk, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on another passed ball to boost Huntland’s lead up to 3-1.

The Indians hit two singles in the bottom of the fifth to put the potential tying run on base with two outs in the frame, but Cayson Banks then induced a groundout to end the contest as the Hornets won by two.

Cayson Banks pitched a complete game for the Hornets with five hits, one walk and one run allowed for the day.

With the win, the Hornets improved to 13-7 on the season.

Sequatchie 8, Hornets 3

The Hornets lost to the Sequatchie County Indians 8-3 on the road on April 23 in the second game of the doubleheader.

Both teams got off to fast offensive starts in the contest with the Indians pulling away in the bottom of the third to give the Hornets a decisive loss.

The Hornets recorded all of their runs for the game in the top of the first as Grant Jernigan scored on a wild pitch, Kasen Kildoo hit an RBI single and Chandler Banks contributed an RBI double to make it a 3-0 game.

However, the Indians took advantage of a few Huntland errors in the bottom of the first to score four runs in the frame and flip the scoreboard in their favor by a 4-3 margin.

The Indians went on to score four more runs in the bottom of the third to push the deficit up to 8-3 at the midway point of the shortened contest.

The Hornets were held hitless and scoreless in the final two innings of play as they lost by five.

Parker Schultz pitched the first inning for the Hornets with one strikeout, two hits, two walks and four unearned runs allowed.

Kildoo pitched two innings in relief with five hits and four unearned runs allowed, and Caleb Maxwell pitched a scoreless inning in relief with no hits allowed.

With the loss, the Hornets moved to 13-8 on the season.

Cornersville 4, Hornets 1

The Hornets lost to the Cornersville Bulldogs 4-1 at home on April 21 for their seventh loss of the season.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead with the Hornets not being able to answer back offensively as Huntland’s district record for the year fell back down to .500.

Huntland head baseball coach Brent Davis said that his team got off to a poor start in the contest and wasn’t able to bounce back after recording a decisive win against Cornersville a day earlier.

“We came out a little flat, had a few mistakes in the field and gave (Cornersville) some runs,” he said. “The body language kind of got down tonight, which after the way we played last night, I think they just came out thinking it was going to be easy.”

The Bulldogs scored a run off of an error in the top of the first, and they went on to score one run each in the second and third innings as well to make it a 3-0 game.

The Hornets loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fourth as Bryant Mooney doubled, Schultz drew a walk and Chandler Banks got hit by a pitch, but a strikeout then ended the frame before any of the runners could score.

The Hornets cut the deficit down to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth as Riley scored from second base off of an error on a ball hit by Caleb Maxwell with Jed Ashley advancing to third base on the play.

Ashley then attempted to score after Mooney hit a groundball to third base, but the ball was relayed home quickly, and Ashley collided with Cornersville’s catcher at home plate. Ashley was called out on the play and ejected from the game due to the collision.

The Bulldogs scored one more run in the top of the seventh after their leadoff hitter for the inning reached base on an error and was later brought around to score.

Jernigan led off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single to give Huntland a baserunner, but the Hornets weren’t able to put anyone else on base in the frame as they lost by three.

Jernigan pitched the first four innings for the Hornets with five strikeouts, six hits, two walks, one earned run and two unearned runs allowed for the day.

Kildoo pitched three innings in relief with one strikeout, three hits and one unearned run allowed.

With the loss, the Hornets moved to 12-7 on the season and 3-3 in district play.

Hornets 8, Cornersville 4

The Hornets beat the Cornersville Bulldogs 8-4 on the road on April 20 for their 12th win of the season.

The Hornets scored most of their runs for the day in the first three innings of the contest and held off a late offensive surge from the Bulldogs to snap a five-game losing streak.

The Hornets scored five runs in the top of the first as Jernigan scored off of an error, Caleb Maxwell hit an RBI single and Chandler Banks recorded a threerun triple to get their offense rolling early.

An RBI single from Ashley in the top of the second pushed their early lead up to 6-0, and Eli Fitch added an RBI single of his own in the top of the third to make it a 7-0 game.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the fourth on a single, a walk and a hit batter, but Fitch struck out the next batter to escape the jam.

The last run of the day for Huntland was scored in the top of the seventh as Schultz came through with a two-out RBI single to push the deficit up to 8-0.

The Bulldogs attempted to rally in the bottom of the seventh as they scored four runs in the frame and brought the potential tying run up to bat with two outs and the bases loaded.

However, Caleb Maxwell was able to induce a flyout to end the contest as the Hornets held on to win by four.

Fitch pitched the first 6 1-3 innings for the Hornets with nine strikeouts, five hits, four walks and three runs allowed for the day.

Caleb Maxwell recorded two outs in relief with one strikeout, one hit, three walks and one run allowed.

With the win, the Hornets improved to 12-6 on the season and 3-2 in district play.

They next played Wednesday against Moore County High School at Richland in a first-round game for the District 9A tournament which came after the Herald Chronicle’s press deadline.