In a wild back and forth affair on Saturday night the Commandos rallied from a 5 run deficit to defeat Lebanon 8-7 in extra innings.

The Commandos trailed after four innings of play 5-0 due in large part to 6 errors by the Commando defense and several timely hits from the Blue Devil batters.  Lebanon scored 4 in the top of the third all following a two-out error to take a 4-0 lead.  A solo homer in the top of the fourth made the score 5-0 Blue Devils.  Sophomore Hayden Layne pitched the first three innings for HHS, allowing only one earned run.  Junior Eric Altizer came on in relief in the fourth and held the Blue Devils at 5 runs to give HHS a chance to rally.

In the bottom of the fifth, Nate Vaughn led off with the Commando's first hit of the game.  A walk to Gaylen Rutledge moved courtesy runner Austin Halas to second with no one out.  A single off the bat of Reid Nelson loaded the bases.  Austin Mays walked to drive in Halas and get HHS on the board at 5-1.  Bret Coker reached on an error by Lebanon which allowed Rutledge to score and make the score 5-2.  Lebanon would escape with no further damage in the 5th. 

After Altizer held Lebanon scoreless in the top of the 6th, the Commandos battled back for three runs to tie the game in the bottom of the 6th. Gabe Dalton and Vaughn singled to lead off the inning.  A walk to Rutledge loaded the bases.  Chase Nelson doubled to score Dalton and courtesy  runner Keaton Wilson to make the score 5-4.  With one out Austin Mays laid down a suicide squeeze to score Rutledge and tie the game. 

Neither team scored in the seventh, but Lebanon struck for two runs in the top of the eighth thanks to two singles, a balk, a wild pitch and a squeeze bunt.  The Commandos weren't done yet however as Chase Nelson led off with a double to start the bottom of the eighth.  A walk to Reid Nelson put runners at first and second.  A single from Austin Mays scored Nelson to cut the Lebanon lead to 7-6.  Mays and Nelson moved to second and third on a wild pitch and Harrison Williams hit a walk-off double to score two and give HHS the dramatic come-from-behind win.  With the win HHS moves to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in District 9AAA.  The Commandos open play in the Northern Division of 9AAA on Monday night at 7:00 vs Portland.

The Commandos got 6 and 2/3 innings of 1-hit baseball from Hayden Mullins and two late runs in the sixth inning to beat the Golden Bears on Tuesday night at Mt Juliet.

Mullins, a Sophomore matched Mt Juliet's Aaron Brown pitch for pitch as neither team had a runner get past second base until the sixth inning.  Brown, a Vanderbilt University signee, struck out 15 Commandos on the night, while Mullins struck out 13 Golden Bears.

The Commandos got on the board in the sixth as Reid Nelson led off with a triple.  Nelson scored when Austin Mays singled through a drawn-in infield to give HHS a 1-0 lead.  Mays moved all the way to third when an errant pick off throw sailed down the right field line.  Harrsion Williams laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to drive in Mays to make the score 2-0. 

Mullins retired the Mt Juliet squad in order in the sixth but ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh with a walk.  Kobe Carter was summoned from the bulpen and following a single to put runners at first and second Carter got Austin Dyer, who had almost homered earlier in the game,  looking at strike three to end the threat and give HHS the win.  Mullins moves to 2-1 on the mound for the year and Carter picked up his third save of the year.  Hayden Layne also had two hits on the night for HHS.  With the win HHS improves to 9-4 on the year and 2-1 in District 9AAA.  The Commandos will next play on Wednesday at Drakes Creek Park at 7:00.

Hendersonville junior shortstop Brett Coker fields a throw as Station Camp's Grant Jones attempts to steal second base during Monday's game.(Photo: Chris Brooks / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)

It worked, and the Commando right-hander produced arguably his best start of the season, pitching 6 2/3 innings and collecting a season-high eight strikeouts. All of that came after a first inning where Hansen gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs.

“I didn’t feel comfortable on the mound, Hansen said. “After the first inning, I went out to the bullpen mound and restarted again.”

However, the process that got him to the seventh inning impressed head coach Mike Hendrix – one showing a glimpse of potential for not just Hansen, but the entire Commando squad as well.

“He got better as the game went on,” Hendrix said. “He bulldogged it a little bit. He hadn’t been bulldogging (this season), but he got after it and got a little bit more guts into it.”

Hansen added, “My past couple of starts haven’t been too well. (Monday) felt 10 times better.”

With just two seniors on the roster – pitchers Andrew Dorris and Matt Nicoll – the Commandos are relying more on those guts and less on experience this season. So far, it’s mainly worked, as Hendersonville is 8-4 overall and 1-1 in District 9-AAA play.

However, the next month of the season is more about the endgame and less about individual victories.

Hendersonville sophomore pitcher Cameron Hansen struck out a season-high eight batters in Monday's 5-2 victory at Station Camp. (Photo: Chris Brooks / USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee)

“We’re playing for May 5,” Hendrix said. “I’m playing to get our club ready for the first round of the district tournament. We’re going out to try and beat everybody we can, but I’m trying to get my pitching lined up and get everybody going.”

The Commandos average 4.6 runs per game, a figure less than where Hendrix would like to see it.

“All year, we’ve struggled to score runs,” Hendrix said. “Whether it’s because you’ve got sophomores and freshmen playing or whatever, that could be it. We’ve got to swing it better.”

Hendersonville has two more District 9-AAA games this week – at Mt. Juliet on Tuesday and at home against Lebanon on Wednesday. Next week, the Commandos begin games against teams in the district’s North Division, where they can make up a lot of ground in a hurry. Winning the division means hosting one-half of the district tournament bracket, but it will likely come down to two games against Beech on April 25 and 26 to determine which team will host.

Hendrix hopes to do so regardless of the lineup.

“Right now, it’s the hot hand,” Hendrix said. “We’ve had three or four (designated hitters) and three or four first basemen.”

Hendersonville’s hopes rest on those hot hands – and not needing to hit the reset button again.

Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or 615-575-7118 and on Twitter @CBrooksTN.

The Commandos not only faced their second Top 5 Kentucky team in as many days but also had the task of facing future first round MLB Draft Pick Joe Adell of Ballard High School.  The Commandos came out victorious over Adell and the Ballard squad 4-2 behind strong work on the mound from Chase Nelson and Kobe Carter and three late inning runs.

The Commandos were the visitors for the game and got on the board first in the top of the first as Austin Mays led off the game with a walk.  Mays moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a double off the bat of Harrison Williams to give HHS a 1-0 lead.

Ballard would tie the game in the bottom of the second after a lead off walk, a balk, a stolen base and a two-out hit.

Adell would show why he is a future first-round pick in the bottom of the fourth as he hit about a 450 foot blast foul, followed by a line drive homer to right center to give Ballard a 2-1 lead.  

Nelson for the game surrenedured only the two runs against the Ballard squad who was averaging over 7 a game.  Kobe Carter came into the game in the 5th in relief of Nelson.  Carter got a 6-4-3 double play to end a scoring threat in the 5th and retired the side in order in the bottom of the 6th to give HHS a chance to rally.

With one out Chase Nelson singled to give the Commandos the tying run on first with one out.  Pinch runner Grant Lang moved to second on a balk and came around to score on an error by Ballard to tie the game at 2-2.

Carter held Ballard scoreless in the bottom of the 7th and in the top of the 8th the Commandos scored 2 to take the lead.

Harrison Williams singled and was replaced by pinch runner Eric Altizer.  Brett Coker walked to give HHS runners at first and second.  A sacrifice bunt by Hayden Layne put runners at second and third with one out.  A balk scored Altizer to give HHS a 3-2 lead and Coker scored on a sac fly by Chase Nelson to make the score 4-2. 

In the bottom of the 8th a one-out triple for Ballard was followed by a walk, but Carter induced a 1-6-3 double play to end the game for the Commandos.   With the win HHS moves to 7-3 on the year. 

The Commandos played the final game of the PBR Border Battle against the McCracken County squad that was a state runner-up in 2016 in Kentucky.  HHS jumped out to a 2-0 lead but couldn't hold on and took the loss 4-2.

 The Commandos were again the visitors and jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first as Austin Mays walked and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Hayden Layne.

HHS would make it 2-0 in the top of the second  as Nate Vaughn singled to open the inning.  Courtesey runner Grant Lang would come around to score on an infield single off the bat of Austin Mays to give HHS a 2-0 lead. 

Freshman Caid Sanders was solid on the mound for HHS through the first two innings allowing no runs.  The right-hander ran into trouble in the bottom of the third as a walk, a pass ball, a bunt and an error led to 2 McCracken runs and a 2-2 tie. 

The game would stay tied until the bottom of the fifth.  A lead off walk and a single chased Sanders from the game.  The Freshman, in his first career start allowed only three hits in four innings of work and struck out 5 for HHS.  An RBI single scored a run for McCracken to make it 3-2 and a dropped third strike and sacfifice fly allowed another run to score to make it 4-2.  Michael Waller and Eric Altzier would hold McCracken scoreless from that point on to give HHS a chance to rally but HHS was unable to push anything across and fell 4-2.  With the loss HHS drops to 7-4 on the year and will next play at Station Camp on Monday night at 7:00.