By Dan Smith

The Trojans of Charles Henderson High were looking for pitching depth Friday against Headland, and Grant Hughes, Bryson Gandy and Charlie Tisdale stepped up with strong efforts as CHHS defeated the Rams by scores of 4-1 and 13-3 at Hogan’s Hole in Troy.

In the first game Hughes pitched a complete game, allowing one run on five hits over seven innings, with outstanding control as 60 of his 84 pitches were strikes.

“Grant’s effort was phenomenal,” said CHHS Head Coach William Teal. “He commanded the zone all day, and that’s the reason we won. He had one hiccup inning, but was able to work around it, and stayed away from the big inning. I was going to take him out in the sixth inning, but he said he wanted to finish it. I told him I was going to give him three batters, and if one guy got on I was going to pull him, and you can see what he did. I am extremely proud of him.

“Now our guys – we won. We did not win how I wanted to win. Our body language was lazy, but we found a way to win, and that’s what good teams do. When you don’t have the energy you have got to find a way to pull one out and that’s what we were able to do. You can put this one on Grant Hughes. He pitched extremely well. I’m really proud of him, and proud of our guys for getting the win, not taking anything away from them at all.”

 

The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a single by Gandy and an RBI double by Chase Hartley, and went up 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Jackson Murphy and Tisdale hit back-to-back home runs. Devan Suddith then walked and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Jabronski Williams.

Headland had the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth, but Hughes got out of the jam with only one Ram base runner scoring.

Hartley, Tisdale and Carson Tucker each had two hits in the 4-1 win, while Gandy, Lewis and Murphy had one hit each.

In the second game Gandy got the start and the win, allowing two runs on four hits, while Tisdale pitched the final two innings in the 13-3 CHHS win.

Lewis and Murphy each had three hits, while Williams, Gandy and Hartley had two each. Murphy had another homer in the second game, while Lewis had two doubles and Hartley had one.

The Trojans, now 21-1 and ranked No. 2 in AHSAA Class 5A, will travel to the annual Gulf Shores baseball tournament next, where they will play Haleyville, AL., and Beech Sr. of Goodlettsville, Tn., on Monday, Brooks High School on Tuesday and McAdory High on Wednesday.