By JIM STEELE
mckenzierebels.com

JACKSON - In baseball, often the winner is determined by where one hits the ball.

Friday in Class A substate action, visiting McKenzie seemed to hit it right to someone; Jackson Christian school hit them where they ain't. Solid hitting, a steady pitching performance and McKenzie errors catapulted the Eagles to the state tournament once again as they defeated the Rebels 7-2.

Like last year's substate game at JCS, McKenzie got the drop on the Eagles only to watch things unravel. McKenzie was seemingly on JCS pitcher Patrick Taggart and hit the ball solidly. Taggart faced five Rebs in the first inning and four of them hit the ball solidly. The Rebels managed a run and had a bit of momentum. Two errors, an infield hit and a sacrifice fly ball pushed JCS in front for good in the first.

From there, the Eagles stroked the ball and slowly built on their lead; the Rebels hit it right to JCS fielders or tapped weak bloops or grounders for easy outs and were forced to chase all game long. The Eagles jumped on Taggart's back and he led them to Murfreesboro. The fact that he pounded a solo insurance run in the fifth didn't hurt, either.

"Taggart pitched well and his home run hurt us," said MHS coach Lynn Yarbrough. "Early errors gave momentum to JCS."

McKenzie senior Clint Kee had suffered some shoulder inflammation during the district tournament and really hadn't seen action in about 10 days. He came into the game feeling very good, but it had been a while and JCS, much like last year, came into the game ready to hit.

"They had us scouted pretty good and Clint hasn't been 100 percent," said the coach. "Amd they took away a lot of our hits."

Brandon Taylor, who homered twice last year in McKenzie's substate loss, and freshman Noah Chandler, who tripled last year against the Rebs, once again proved to be a bane to MHS. Taylor was 3-4 with two doubles and an RBI. Chandler was 1-4, but reached three times. They combined for four runs scored. Meanwhile, Taggart, who struck out six, issued five hits and no walks, also had two extra-base hits. He doubled, homered, had two RBI and scored two runs. JCS also scored a pair of runs on sacrifice flys. The Eagles just seemed to do things in the right place at the right time.

The Rebels did seem to have Taggart timed early. Senior Rusty Chapman, with one out, belted a tightrope double, took third on senior Derek Carr's sacrifice fly and scored on junior Nick Chappell's single. After that, the Rebels hit the snooze button. They didn't get another hit until the fifth frame and had only one baserunner in between and that was on an error.

Chapman doubled and scored in the sixth. Carr had an infield hit. That was pretty much that for the Rebs.

Kee was the starting pitcher and despite pitching well early, couldn't dial down the early momentum acquired bu JCS because of errors and timely hitting. He struck out four, allowed eight hits and walked none in 3 1/3 innings. Senior Parker Jones came in relief in the fourth and gave up Taggart's homer and struck out two.

"We'd get something going and they'd take away our momentum," said Yarbrough.

The Rebels finish with a 24-11 mark overall and defeated three teams currently in the state tournament draw (JCS, Huntingdon and 2A Ripley). McKenzie says good bye to seven seniors: Drew Brown, Derek Carr, Rusty Chapman, Parker Jones, Clint Kee, Kyle Kirk, Shabree Payne and Tyler Reeder.

"OUr seniors stepped up this year," said Yarbrough. "They played a lot of games and had high expectations. We had a good season and these seniors are a good group of guys."

The Rebels lost to JCS 10-4 in last year's substate game, but they defeated the Eagles on their own field last month, 9-1.