Columbia State falls short of TCCAA championship

Columbia State freshman Will Rhodes pitched 4 1/3 innings Saturday, limiting Walters State to three runs in an eventual 5-2 TCCAA championship game decision at Dave Hall Field. MAURICE PATTON In a winner-take-all TCCAA tournament championship game Saturday at Dave Hall Field, Columbia State put the ball in the hand of someone who had a bit of familiarity with such stakes. “We call him ‘Two-Time,’” Chargers coach Desi Ammons said regarding Will Rhodes, a year removed from starting – and winning – Columbia Academy’s Division II-A title game against Clarksville Academy, clinching the Bulldogs’ second championship in as many seasons. A repeat wasn’t to be, though, as regular-season champ Walters State added tournament honors with a 5-2 victory over C-State after coming out of the losers bracket and forcing the all-or-nothing contest with a 22-4, seven-inning win in the first ‘championship’ game. “You just hope they got their hits out of the way, and try to be in the (strike) zone early and often,” Rhodes said regarding the Senators’ offensive outburst in the early contest, which included six home runs after grabbing a 6-0 lead. “They know the nerves, the pressure, weren’t going to get to me; I’d been there and done it before. I wavered a little in the fourth and fifth, but besides that, I felt pretty good. I just lost command at an unfortunate time.” Rhodes limited Walters to a run on two hits through the opening four innings, striking out three, before the perennial NJCAA World Series participant put together a three-run fifth inning. North Carolina signee Kole Fenton sparked the rally with a two-run homer that gave his team a 3-2 lead. Rhodes struck out the final hitter he faced before ex-Independence pitcher Noah Taylor entered and gave up three straight hits, the last an RBI double. “We wanted the lefty/lefty matchup with Noah,” Ammons said. “We knew we’d have to use him at some point. He was our best option. “(Rhodes) has been in those big moments. He was tough.” With Columbia State’s two losses Saturday to Walters State in the TCCAA tournament championship, sophomore shortstop Holden Warmath wrapped up his final season as a Charger leading the team in virtually every offensive category, with a .461 batting average, 23 home runs, 102 RBIs, 26 doubles and 73 runs scored. ROB FLEMING Columbia State broke on top in the third inning, as Ashton Kemp’s one-out base hit was followed by a Holden Warmath double and Jordan Akins’ two-run single. That was all the Chargers were able to muster against Walters State starter Colton Richards and a pair of relievers. “It still hasn’t really hit me that the season’s over,” Warmath said. “I hate it for my teammates. It’s tough right now. We had a chance to win it. We just didn’t get it done.” The tournament hosts managed just three baserunners over the final six innings. “Holding them to five was good. We just didn’t capitalize,” Ammons said, reflecting on the first game and how the Chargers bounced back with a competitive effort in the nightcap. “That’s who they are. They’re resilient. They don’t let things get to them. Our word this year was ‘care.’ People that care about what they do, every day, tend to have good outcomes. This has been a fun group. They’re not happy by any means but it’s been a fun group, a really close group.” Columbia State concluded the season with a 33-19 record. Walters State advances to a best-of-three series against host Georgia Highlands beginning Tuesday, with the winner clinching a JUCO World Series berth. Cary Allen Burke’s fifth-inning solo home run got Columbia State on the scoreboard in Saturday’s first TCCAA tournament championship game against top seed Walters State. The Chargers, who dropped Walters into the losers bracket, lost the initial contest 22-4 before the Senators won the title with a 5-2 victory in the final game. ROB FLEMING Walters State 22, Columbia State 4 (7 inn.) C 000 011 2 – 4 5 1 W 240 583 x – 22 23 1 Harrison Cassle, Parker Day (3), Brayden Whitlow (5), Sam Smith (5) and Jax Nichols. Bridger Hamilton and Kenny Cox. W: Hamilton. L: Cassle. HR: Columbia State – Cary Allen Burke, Jordan Akins, John Carter; Walters State – Hayden Blair 2, Luke Graham, Drew Blalock, Kole Fenton, Holden Pantier. Walters State 5, Columbia State 2 C 002 000 000 – 2 9 1 W 001 030 10x – 5 7 0 Will Rhodes, Noah Taylor (5), Steele Moseley (7), Anthony Serrano (8) and Russ Lambert. Colton Richards, Justin Bell (3), Tim Tyler (6) and Hayden Blair. W: Bell. L: Rhodes. HR: Walters State – Kole Fenton, Drew Blalock.