Cullman Mends NHSI Heartbreak With Win Over Brother Rice

CARY, N.C.—Disheartened after a hard-fought loss to open its bid at the National High School Invitational tournament on Wednesday, Cullman (Ala.) High lifted its spirits in the best possible way on Thursday, with a 7-3 win over the Brother Rice High (Chicago).

After sharing their widespread disappointment with the way the event started, the Bearcats came out of the gate swinging in their second contest. Each of their first five batters recorded a hit in the opening frame, and the top three in the lineup all came around giving them an early lead, and one they would never relinquish.

“I’m not going to lie,” Cullman head coach Brent Patterson said. “We were as down as we could possibly be after last night, coaches included. We were pretty devastated. We felt like we let one slip away and didn’t do some things that we normally do to win it. We came to the national tournament and we really wanted to play well and we were all kind of embarrassed.

“And I can’t be more proud of the way they showed up, because the energy level at the beginning of the game I was really worried about. I felt like there was some hangover from last night and so we came out and . . . had really good at-bats to set the tone, set the tempo, and allow us to take a deep breath and something good to happen at this big tournament.”

Cullman had 11 hits, with center fielder Owen Lovell, DH Jacob Heatherly, middle infielder Carter Bowen and catcher Weston Norton all driving runs in, Lovell leading the offensive charge with two hits and two RBIs, and the backstop notching three singles. The Bearcats head coach is hoping his squad can maintain the momentum it found in its next game against Huntington Beach, Thursday night.

“I’m a positive guy, and I wasn’t positive last night,” Patterson said. “I just got real honest with them and we all got honest with each other . . . We wanted to make a big splash. And it didn’t happen. (We’re) going to go home tonight and we either have that same feeling we had last night or we can turn it around and start building some momentum.

“We’re not going to win the tournament but let’s win the next game.”

Brother Rice took its second loss of the tournament, unable to capitalize on some opportunities and string hits together when it needed to—despite multi-hit games from first baseman Ryan Kutt, catcher Andy Lopez, and DH Patrick Mayo—also committing three errors in the matchup.

“Keep battling,” Crusaders head coach John McCarthy said. “That’s baseball. Win, lose or draw, we just want to play our best, and get after it every day and compete. And I thought we did that, we just haven’t gotten the results. So we’ve just got to stay hungry and we’ve got to stay after it and just keep competing and keep having good at-bats.”

A combination of hurlers kept Brother Rice in the matchup, with southpaw Ryan Palmbad starting and allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits with no walks and a strikeout over four innings, and lefty Shane Gorman and righthander Joshua Silverman following to combine for three runs (none earned) on three hits with three walks, fanning two in their three frames.

“I loved our pitching today,” McCarthy said. “And I thought they really competed, and I thought they really battled. Errors and mistakes are part of the game and I think it’s a matter of how you handle those and I thought our staff did a great job of handing that and kept playing, kept pitching, kept performing.”

Levi Thomas took the hill for Cullman and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits—including two infield singles—with three walks and two hit batsmen. He left with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, and Bearcats reliever Kade Williams got two quick outs to get out of the inning and eventually end the game.

“That was big for us today,” Patterson said. “We needed a guy to go deep and kind of save our arms for the rest of the week, and Levi has been tremendous for us. He was definitely not his best. The biggest thing we’re really proud of is he had to compete. He didn’t have his best stuff at all . . . but he competed and he never stopped and made some really big pitches in big spots…

“We just tried to stretch Levi as far as we could, to know Kade would come in whenever he needed to.”