By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Millington Trojan Dylan Doyle looks to swing at a pitch during last week’s game against Fayette-Ware at Miles Park. Doyle had a solid week from the plate with RBI hits against the Wildcats and later in the week against Rossville in a 14-4 victory.
One of the best kept pitching secrets in Tennessee resides in Millington.
But with every trip to the mound and recorded strikeout, Millington Trojan sophomore Wesley Culley in confirming what his teammates and coaches already know.
“He’s throwing the ball great every time he’s been out there,” Millington Head Coach Zane Adams said. “I feel like we’ve got a chance to win because he’s going to be in zone. Coming into today after 4 or 5 starts, he has struck out 49 guys. I think had another 7 or 8 tonight.
“He’s throwing the ball well,” he continued. “And the lineup today, I had a sophomore on the mound and three freshmen in the field. We were able to put up 15 runs. It doesn’t matter who you play as long as you put the bat onto the ball. If there are young guys, you’re just happy to see that.”
Culley’s latest trip to the mound resulted in a 15-0 District 15-2A win over the Fayette-Ware Wildcats in game one of a doubleheader at Miles Park. The win in the first game improved the Trojans to 2-3 in league play.
“I told them before the game, ‘We’ve got to come out and just take care of us,’” Adams said. “‘We got a chance to get back even in district. Today we’ve got a good chance to do it.’ Now we’re halfway there. We’ve got another one coming up in 15 minutes. We’re going to try to get there.”
Millington did reach its goal of .500 in league play with a 10-5 win in game two over Fayette-Ware.
Game one got the Trojans’ bats rolling scoring 4 runs in the first inning. Then Millington hitters Tommy Clifton and Seth Saigeon drove in runs in the second inning to make the score 6-0.
The Trojan advantage grew to 7-0 in the third inning when Alex Jennings executed a sacrifice fly to score Chad Chadwick. Then the big blow came four batters later when Clifton crushed an offering deep to left-center.
The ball almost left the massive outfield of Miles Park. But the ball was hit well enough for Clifton’s speed to be put on full display. Clifton rounded all the bases to score along with teammates Mark Mabry, Cameron Hailey and Brock Musgroves to make the tally 11-0.
“I do enjoy seeing that,” Culley said. “Long innings, coming back out there on the mound is a little tough on the arm, but the run support really helps. They got work, we got work and when you put it together you’ve got a whole puzzle.
“I was pumped with Tommy’s hit,” he added. “Once I saw that ball leave his bat I was like, ‘That ball is gone. There no coming back from that.’”
Millington made sure there was no coming back for the Wildcats adding four more runs over the next two innings to win 15-0.
“Most of the time we don’t have to worry about many runs being scored against Wesley,” Chadwick said. “Then we’ve got to focus on hitting the slow pitches even if their pitcher is throwing that slow.
“In game two same goal, we’ve got to come out with the same momentum as the first game,” he concluded. “Have the energy and stay patient.”
Despite more offense from Fayette-Ware, Millington scored double figures again to win the contest 10-5 and improve to 3-3 in District 15-2A.
