Published: April 24, 2008 08:58 pm         

Sweet revenge: Jets down Cleveland 11-7

Sparked by a seven-run fifth inning, the Cumberland County High School Jet baseball team rallied to defeat the Cleveland Blue Raiders 11-7 Tuesday night for their first District 5AAA victory of the season to avenge Monday's 10-0 defeat in Cleveland.

The Jets trailed 2-0 after one inning, fell behind 5-1 after three and a half, and started their comeback with three runs in the bottom of the fourth and the seven in the bottom of the fifth to earn the victory for Jet starter Shawn Scott.

Scott allowed seven runs on 10 hits with two strikeouts, five walks and one hitbatsman.

Tyler Sherrill ripped two singles and a double with one RBI and two stolen bases for the Jets.

Josh Sanders smacked two singles with four stolen bases, and Derek Hankins cracked two singles with two RBIs. Matt Jones, Brad Wyatt and Brian Woodlief each whacked one single.

All of this damage was off two Cleveland hurlers — Brandon Rader and Cameron Brewster. Rader was the loser, allowing eight runs on eight hits with two Ks and two walks, while Brewster gave up three runs on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

Things got off to a poor start, as the Raiders scored two unearned runs in the top of the first inning on two Jet errors, a walk and a double by Tyler Brown.

Cleveland swelled the lead to 3-0 in the second on singles by Blake Ray and Tipton, a sacrifice fly and a walk.

Cumberland County picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the second on a single by Woodlief, a wild pitch, an error, a walk and a stolen base.

Cleveland made it 5-1 in the top of the third with two runs on singles by Derrick Suggart, Kwan Hooks, Ray and Tipton, an error, a walk and a stolen base.

Two fourth inning runs scored on a double by Rader, a single by Scott Douglas, a sacrifice fly, an error and a stolen base for a 7-1 lead.

The Jets started their comeback with a three-spot in the fourth inning on singles by Sanders and Hankins, a walk, an error and a sacrifice fly by Jones to slice the lead to 7-3.

That fired up the Jet faithful, who saw their favorites plate seven runs on two singles by Sherrill, one single each by Wyatt, Sanaders, Hankins and Jones, a fielder's choice, four stolen bases, a balk, a groundout and three Raider errors to give the Jets an 11-7 lead.

Scott allowed only three base runners in the last three innings — two on walks and a single by Douglas.

CCHS will be the sixth seed in the District 5AAA Tournament which begins May 1 at Cleveland High School. Bradley Central is the top seed at 9-1, followed by Walker Valley (7-3), McMinn County (6-4), Cleveland (4-6) and Rhea County (3-7).

Bradley Central defeated Walker Valley 13-1 on Tuesday, and McMinn County beat Rhea County 9-1 in other District 5AAA regular season finales.

The Jets (7-15, 1-9) likely will play McMinn County, with Cleveland playing Rhea County and the winners playing Walker Valley and Bradley Central, respectively.

The coaches met Wednesday in Cleveland to set the pairings.

Before the tournament, the Jets must finish their regular season schedule, beginning this weekend with three games — Thursday at Jefferson County, Friday at Cocke County and Saturday at Sevier County.

They will host Monterey on Monday at 6 p.m., Clinton on Tuesday at 6 p.m and Harriman on Wednesday at 6 p.m.