Bristol Herald Courier | Tim Hayes | Photo Credit: Emily Ball
EMORY, Va. – Connor Musick has had quite a successful career playing baseball at Honaker High School and he certainly wasn’t ready for his time with the Tigers to be over.
The senior smashed a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to save Honaker’s season via an 11-9 victory over Rural Retreat in the third-place game of the Hogoheegee District tournament on Wednesday at Emory & Henry University.
The Tigers (15-9) clinched the district’s final Region 1D tourney bid after trailing 6-1 at one point and being a strike away in the seventh inning from a setback.
“It’s like putting the sun back in the sky,” Musick said. “One more day of baseball – you can’t have anything better than that.”
After fouling off two pitches, Musick deposited a pitch from Brody Childers over the fence in left field. Jake Rasnake had led off the inning with a single.
“I wasn’t trying to do too much,” Musick said. “I saw two fastballs early, so I knew they were coming with a curveball there and I just sat on it and put a good swing on it. I’ve been seeing the ball really well these past couple of weeks.”
Rural Retreat 050 120 10—9 9 3
Honaker 100 321 22—11 9 4
Shelton, Childers (6) and Walker. Altizer, Schneider (3), Rasnake (6), K. Reynolds (7) and Beavers. W – K. Reynolds. L – Childers. HR – C. Musick (H), 8th, one on.