Fannett-Metal (#5 seed) travelled to Rockwood  on Tuesday for a first round matchup with the 4th seeded Rockets and came home with a 1-0 playoff victory.  “Coming into the season after losing six starting seniors from a year ago, I didn’t really know what to expect this season.  This was a big playoff win for this young squad”, Coach Paul Coffman said.  

Sophomore pitcher Landon Arnold took the mound for the Tigers in the opening round.  Rockwood put runners on second and third in the opening inning with one out but a line drive out and a pop fly ended the threat.   The hard throwing right hander would only allow two more base runners the rest of the way.  Both of those runners were thrown out on the base paths by catcher Drew Goshorn.  

With the game tied 0-0, the Tigers scored the only run of the game in the 4th inning.  Adam Hammond walked to lead off the inning.  Broc Hostler laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him to second.  Hammond then moved to third on a wild pitch and two pitches later he scored on a RBI sacrifice fly by Wade Appleby.   

That would be the only run Arnold would need as he had 12 strikeouts while issuing only one walk and two hits.  “ Landon really locked in after the first inning.  He attacked hitter after hitter with his fast ball and mixed in his off speed stuff as needed.  He got stronger as the game went on.  Defensively, we had no errors today.  When they put the ball in play our defense made every play”, Coffman said.  

The Tigers only managed two hits on the day off Rocket starter Aaron Show.  They were doubles by Wade Appleby and Logan Hall.   The Tigers left a runner in scoring in four innings.  “We hit the ball hard at times, but we just couldn’t come up with the clutch hit to add any insurance runs”, Coffman said.   

The Tigers will travel to top seeded Southern Fulton on Thursday for a semi final matchup scheduled to start at 4:30.