Bryson City – Heading into the final two games of the regular season tied atop the Smoky Mountain Conference with Hayesville, the Murphy baseball team had a lot to play for.
Win both games against Swain County, and at minimum the Bulldogs would force a conference championship tiebreaker with the Yellow Jackets after the two teams split with each other the previous week.
However, Murphy not only found itself looking up at Hayesville in the standings by the end of the week, but also the Maroon Devils after they beat the Bulldogs 8-4 on May 2 and then 8-1 two days later. Hayesville, meanwhile, closed out a second conference championship in three years with 17-2 and 8-1 wins over Robbinsville.
“We struggled putting a full game together this week,” head coach Tyler Edwards said. “Monday we struggled defensively, and last night defense was good but we struggled to put runs across.”
The first contest was Senior Day at Konehete Veterans Park, though Swain County (10-9 overall, 9-3 conference) decided to play spoiler. The Maroon Devils jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the fifth, then answered with four more after Murphy (10-8, 9-3) trimmed the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth. Swain County took advantage of five Murphy errors, as all of their eight runs were unearned.
Two days later in the rematch, the Maroon Devils took the lead early and never let up. Gabe Lillard reached with a one-out walk in the bottom of the first, then stole second and reached third when the throw drifted into the outfield. He would later score on a groundout by Carter Hayes.
Swain County would leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the second as Isaac Cole struggled to find the strike zone, but that set the tone for a big bottom of the third. Grady Lewis and Bradyn Ruias both hit two-strike singles, then Cole hit Reese Winchester with two strikes to load the bases. Cole then hit Ronnie Griggs, and Aiden Southards and Rowan Ellis followed with two-out singles to build a 6-0 lead and chase Cole.
Murphy, meanwhile, never got a handle on Griggs on the mound. The senior scattered eight hits and struck out nine in a complete game win, with the Bulldogs never getting a handle on his curve. Murphy out hit the Maroon Devils in both games in the series, but could never string hits together.
Isaiah Temple got Murphy on the board in the top of the fourth with an RBI single, but the Bulldogs left the bases loaded to end the inning. Swain County added two more in the fifth on an RBI single from Lewis and a sacrifice fly from Gabe Lillard.
Despite ending the regular season with three straight losses, the Bulldogs were able to earn a home game in the first round of the state playoffs due to a challenging non-conference schedule. Murphy was the No. 15 seed and hosted No. 18 seed Bishop McGuinness after the Cherokee Scout’s press time Tuesday.
“We as a team need to keep the same mentality we’ve had all year,” Edwards said. “Compete, fight, be scrappy on every pitch, every play, every swing.”