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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

The Chilton County High School baseball team made quick work of Benjamin Russell High School on Feb. 23 winning 12-2 in five innings in their home opener at Jack Hayes Field.

Cannon Miller was a stalwart on the mound and in the batter’s box for the Tigers. The senior threw a complete game, five innings of five-hit baseball giving up two runs with one being earned. He walked one batter and sat down eight by way of strikeouts.

At the plate, Miller went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and a bases-clearing double that broke the game wide open in the fourth inning.

“We have a great group of seniors, and Cannon is one of those guys who loves baseball, and he loves the game,” CCHS coach Ryan Ellison said. “He is a max effort guy, he is a clubhouse guy and he carries the energy for our team. You saw that tonight. He goes out there and pretty much took care of it for us on the mound and at the plate. We are very fortunate to have him and all the seniors and leadership they bring.”

With the score tied at two going into the home-half of the fourth inning, CCHS had runners at the corners for Colton Brock who slapped an RBI single that gave the Tigers the lead. A hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out before Miller laced a ball the right-center gap that cleared the bases and extended the Tigers lead to 6-2.

“We talk about small things and try to break the game down into small parts, and not making it as bigger than it is,” Ellison said. “Winning each pitch, and if we can focus on filling up the strike zone and put the ball in play hard somewhere, we feel like we can win any game we play.”

The next batter and fellow senior Aidan Bee launched a towering two-run homer to right-center field that put CCHS ahead 8-2. Bee was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

“The last two games we have really put it together and tonight we did all these things well, and the scoreboard depicts that,” Ellison said. “We made the routine plays and a lot of the guys in our lineup had break out nights at the plate.”

Miller worked a quick top-half of the fifth inning before knocking in the Tigers second run in the bottom of the fifth. Jonathan Terrell had an RBI single and a wild pitch scored the 12th and final run for CCHS.

Benjamin Russell took the lead first with a run in the top of the first inning, but Brock got the Tigers going with a single. Miller scored Brock on an RBI single, and a few hit by pitches plated the second CCHS run in the first inning. Brock got things going again for the Tigers in the second inning sending a two-out triple to the center field wall.

Brock was a perfect 3-for-3 with an RBI, triple and a walk. Brody Pierce and Parker Willis each had a hit as well, and Pierce’s was a double.

“We are trying to find that mixture of guys in the lineup that is who we are going to carry on with later in the season,” Ellison said. “So far, we are seeing a lot of good things from a lot of guys.”

The Tigers are now 2-1 on the season and will host Saint James School in Montgomery for a doubleheader on Feb. 25 in the final two games of its three-game homestand. First pitch is at 11 a.m.