By Staff
It came two days after an emotional Escambia County Tournament and two days before the start of postseason.
If ever there was a game that had trap written on it, Monday's regular season finale was it for the T.R. Miller Tigers baseball team.
Thanks largely to sophomore Jordan Cauley, it was a trap T.R. Miller avoided. Cauley belted a three-run homer that capped off a five-run fifth inning and rallied the Tigers to an 8-7 win over visiting Monroe County Monday.
"We thought there might be a little bit of a letdown. They had us down pretty good on a couple of occasions, but we battled back," T.R. Miller coach Jim Hart said.
The visiting Tigers got off to a running start in the top of the first inning when Daniel Harper slapped a three-run homer off T.R. Miller starter Trent Davidson. That lead went to 4-0 in the top of the second inning.
The host Tigers (22-5) began the first of two comebacks in the bottom of the second inning. A ball hit by Cauley was misplayed into an error and allowed Kurt Prater to score and put T.R. Miller on the board.
T.R. Miller drew even closer in the third inning when a walk to Joseph Turner and a double by Brad Lannom set up an RBI groundout by Davidson and an RBI single by Jordan Ball that cut the gap to 4-3.
Monroe County appeared to weather that storm when it strung together a three-run outburst in the top of the fifth inning and regained its original four-run lead at 7-3.
T.R. Miller's decisive fifth inning rally began with a single by Lannom and a double by Davidson. Ball delivered a two-run single that made it 7-5. After Kevin Durden walked, Cauley muscled up for what would be a game-winning three-run
homer.
After Davidson worked the first five innings, Prater preserved the win with two hitless frames of relief.
At T.R. Miller
Monroe Co. 310 030 0 – 7 15 1
T.R. Miller 012 050 X – 8 8 3