Never say die. The Cornersville Bulldogs advanced to the championship game of the District 11-A tournament for the second time in three years after pulling out a dramatic 4-2 win over the top seeded Richland Raiders in nine innings on Tuesday night in Lynnville.

Richland had swept the regular season series against CHS and held a 1-0 lead through the first six innings of play in Tuesday's contest, but the Bulldogs (16-13) plated a run in the top of the seventh to send the game into extra innings tied at 1-1.

Active 9th

Following a scoreless eighth inning, Cornersville pushed across three runs in the top of the ninth to seize a 4-2 advantage before staving off a Raider rally attempt in the bottom half of the frame to hold on for the victory.

With Tuesday's triumph, the Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak against Richland and earned a spot in the upcoming Region 6-A tournament.

"These kids have been working since November to get to this point. You do all of it for this one week so it's very rewarding when it pays off," said CHS coach Ben Putman.

Bulldog relief pitcher Matt Callender turned in a clutch performance and tossed seven scoreless innings to pick up his fourth win of the year, as he limited the Raiders to three hits and no walks during that span while racking up eight strikeouts. Jody Sullivan started the game on the mound for Cornersville and yielded one run in one plus inning of work on one hit and three walks. David Looney then pitched the ninth inning and allowed one run on one hit and a walk to go along with three strikeouts.

Runs when it counts

CHS mustered only five hits in the contest as well, but tallied three in the pivotal ninth inning. Looney went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored to lead the Bulldogs offensively, while Tyler Lowery (1 RBI), Tate Lowery (1 RBI), and Cody Blackburn each added one hit.

Richland starting pitcher Landon Jones turned in a valiant performance, but suffered the loss after giving up three runs over eight and two-third innings on three hits and two walks. Drew Abernathy went 2-for -4 with a homerun and 2 RBI to place the Raiders at the plate.

Richland grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Nathan Hale scored on a RBI single by Abernathy after drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second, and advancing to third on a CHS throwing error.

Callender then snuffed out a couple of Raider scoring threats over the next four innings to keep the deficit at one before Cornersville stranded a runner at third in the top of the sixth.

Close call

In the top of the seventh, the Bulldogs tied the game at 1-1 by plating a run without the benefit of a hit. After Jacob Griffis drew a walk, Callender was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with two outs, before pinch runner Nate Huitt raced home on a Raider throwing error.

Richland then stranded a man in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh before Cornersville left runners on first and second in the top of the eighth.

CHS broke the deadlock in the top of the ninth by pushing across three runs in the frame to grab a 4-1 lead. Zach Richards was hit by a pitch to start the inning and advanced to second on a Callender groundout. Looney then laced a two-out RBI single into centerfield to put the Bulldogs up 2-1, before Tyler Lowery blasted a RBI double off the base of the left field fence to drive in pinch runner J.D. Crabtree. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Tyler Lowery scored on an infield RBI single by Tate Lowery.

Abernathy led off the bottom of ninth with a solo homerun to narrow the gap to 4-2 before Chance Derryberry drew a walk, but Looney fanned the next three Raider batters to sew up the win for Cornersville.