White Knoll baseball holds off River Bluff in region battle

It wasn’t pretty, but White Knoll was more than satisfied with the result.

The Timberwolves used a five-run first inning to jump-start a 7-5 victory over River Bluff on Monday to take sole possession of first place in Region 5-4A.

“Those dudes are a bunch of warriors in that dugout,” White Knoll coach Charles Assey said. “We have 12 seniors back from last year that won nine out the last 11, and this year we’re playing better from the start of the season. The stakes were high, and we figured out a way.”

The teams, both ranked in the top six in Class 4A, combined for 17 walks, but it was the first inning was the difference.

River Bluff starter Brandon Tillmon had trouble finding the strike zone, and then a couple of shaky plays in the field led to the five-run outburst. Tillmon walked four of the first five batters he faced to stake White Knoll to a 1-0 lead. Austin Davies followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

The No. 5 Gators (17-3, 6-1) had a chance to get out of the inning without any additional damage with a ground ball to shortstop, but runner Zach Driggers beat the shortstop to the second base bag. They threw home after not getting the out, but courtesy runner Thomas Scott avoided the tag to make it 3-0.

Brett Williams closed out the inning with a two-run double.

“We were fortunate to get five runs in that first inning,” Assey said. “Tonight was just one of those nights.”

River Bluff coach Mark Bonnette thought the first inning turned out to be key. Add in nine total walks by his five pitchers, and the mistakes in the field had his team was playing from behind at the outset.

“We had a chance their but the runners were moving,” Bonnette said. “It was a big play, obviously. We should have had the guy at the plate, but couldn’t finish that either. The story for us is too many free bases. You allow nine walks and a hit batter, and we didn’t make plays when we had to.”

River Bluff scored two in its half of the inning, but White Knoll starter Stephen Estep pitched well enough to keep the Gators at bay.

The senior left-hander lasted four innings and allowed five runs on five hits with seven walks and a strikeout. Ryan Harbin pitched the final three innings to earn the save. Harbin allowed three hits with one walk and five strikeouts.

The White Knoll defense helped as well by turning two double plays in the first two innings.

“Estep kind of has that effective wildness because you don’t know where it’s coming next,” Assey said. “Harbin has been very strong lately. River Bluff is really good throughout their lineup and we just had some things go our way.”

The teams will play again on Friday night at White Knoll. The No. 6 Timberwolves had lost three of four coming in, but improve 15-3 and 7-0.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 11:08 PM with the headline "White Knoll baseball holds off River Bluff in region battle."