Cherokee – Swain held off a late Cherokee rally to post a 6-4 conference win over the Braves Tuesday at Cherokee. The Maroon Devils scored 3 times in their half of the 1st to take a lead they would not relinquish.
Trae Bradley singled, Dawson Lowe walked and Zack Epps doubled in the 1st for Swain. All three would score in the inning. The Maroon Devils would not score again until the 5th inning. During that time the Braves tied the game at 3.
In the 5th Trae Bradley reached on an error to start the inning. Stanley Taylor and Dawson Lowe followed Bradley by also reaching on errors to load the bases. Two batters later Caleb Taylor coaxed a walk to force in the go ahead run, giving Swain a 4-3 lead.
Swain tallied two important insurance runs in the 7th. Lowe and Epps both reached base through walks. Both would score in the inning.
On the mound Darren Blankenship worked a complete game to pick up the win. Blankenship yielded only 2 earned runs on 8 hits, striking out a career high 11 batters while walking only one.