By Dan Smith

Senior leadership has always been a strength of Charles Henderson High baseball, and Tuesday all five seniors were productive on Senior Day in a 13-10 win over Brantley.

Senior shortstop Nick Lewis belted two home runs and drove in six RBI, Hunter Blackmon and Chase Hartley worked on the mound, while Alex Bland and Eric Lee also contributed on defense and at the plate in the last regular season game for CHHS.

Head Coach William Teal was proud of the way the team closed out the regular season and will now gear his team’s focus on the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs at Tallassee Friday. On Senior Day the Trojans used six different pitchers in the seven inning contest.

“We were able to find runs today, and that is something we have been struggling to consistently do lately,” said Teal. “On pitching, it’s hard to get in there and get in a rhythm when you only throw one inning, but we wanted to kind of use this game as a bullpen day. My hat is off to our seniors. I am proud of them. They know their role, and they did a really good job.”

Brantley got on the board first with a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but CHHS went up 3-1 in the bottom half when Bryson Gandy and Carson Tucker walked and Nick Lewis hit a three-run homer to left field.

Hunter Blackmon led off the bottom of the second with a single for CHHS, Gandy singled and Lewis homered again for a 6-1 lead.

Brantley picked up three more runs in the top of the third including a two-run homer by Greyson Layton to cut the lead to 6-4, but Gandy tripled to lead off the bottom of the fourth, Tucker singled, Lewis reached on a fielder’s choice and Jackson Murphy singled for the 8-4 lead.

Mack Wise homered in the top of the fifth inning for Brantley to make it 8-5, and CHHS added four more in the bottom of the fifth when Devan Suddith singled, Charlie Tisdale and Grant Hughes walked, Gandy singled in two runs and Tucker singled in two more for the 12-5 lead.

Brantley was not done as they tacked on five more in the top of the sixth with Layton hitting a double and Wise hitting his second homer for the big hits of the inning.

Jackson Murphy homered for the Trojans in the bottom of the sixth inning, for what would be the 13-10 final score.

Leading hitters for CHHS were Gandy and Murphy with three each, Tucker and Lewis had two apiece, while Suddith and Blackmon had one hit.

Layton had three hits for Brantley while Wise and Edge Branum had two hits.

Blackmon, Hartley, Gandy, Hughes, Tucker and Tisdale all worked on the mound for the Trojans.

The Trojans finish the regular season at 25-8.