CALEDONIA — Monday night was a statement game for Caledonia, coming off the backs of a 2-1 loss on Saturday at Tishomingo County.
The Cavaliers welcomed the Braves to town, looking for revenge on the field, and with senior right-hander Zack Gorum starting on the mound for them, things looked all the better.
He delivered just as his offense did behind him, keeping Tishomingo County off the board until the fifth inning, stifling batters with eight strikeouts over 5.2 innings of work.
Gorum was a strike away from getting out of things in the sixth, just falling short as he ran out of steam, but his start was just what Caledonia needed in an 8-6 win.
“I just had to stay focused,” Gorum said. “The breaking ball was working better than any of my other pitches, but I just had to keep working on what I was doing and keep throwing the breaking ball because that’s what was working.”
Things nearly got out-of-hand once Gorum left the game, just after two Braves scored on a wild pitch to make it an 8-3 game.
In the seventh, with Ashton Smith on the mound, Tishomingo County scored three runs, cutting the lead to two with runners on the corners and two down, but he shut the door on the win for the Cavs (7-4).
Gorum set the tone from the beginning with his off-speed pitches, which kept the Braves off-balance and guessing early at the plate.
“Early, his breaking ball was really, really good,” Caledonia head coach Brad Hamilton said. “He was able to throw it in any count and I think that kept them off-balance and kept them guessing at the plate. That’s what made him really effective.”
He gave up four hits during his outing, utilizing the colder weather to his advantage to induce fly outs and pop outs.
Caledonia had his back in the field and at the plate as the Cavs benefitted from timely hitting while working eight walks over the first four innings, as well as poor fielding from Tishomingo County.
That allowed Gorum to settle down that much more on the mound, pitching with a multi-run lead by the middle of the game.
“When you can have confidence in your offense, you can go out there on the mound, relax, do what you need to do and just have fun,” Gorum said.
Caledonia has already picked up some solid wins early on this season, including Monday’s win. A tough 4-3 win on the road against New Hope earlier in the month is among those early-season triumphs, but a lack of mental toughness was exposed against the Braves.
Struggling to stay mentally focused late allowed Tishomingo County to get back into the game and nearly take the lead.
Luckily for the Cavs, they prevailed, but those mental mistakes are going to take precedent for Hamilton and his staff moving forward, starting 10 a.m. Thursday against Corinth.
“We relaxed, quit pressing, quit trying to play hard,” Hamilton said. “You do that against a good team and it comes back to bite you…It’s just mental toughness. You have to keep working. You have to learn not to let your guard down. That can’t be taught, it has to be learned.”
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