MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The road to the Single A baseball championship took a hit for Sale Creek as the Panthers took one to the chin in a 12-0 loss to Richland in the opening round Tuesday at Rockvale High School.

The Raiders (30-5) led from the outset, scoring one run in the top of the first inning and two in the third before exploding for nine scores in the seventh.

The lone run for Sale Creek (22-10)came in the bottom of the fifth.

Louie Stephenson opened with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and stood on third after a bunt by Gabriel Hodges. Stephenson raced home on a throw to second in an effort to catch Hodges stealing.

“You just can't put yourself behind the eight ball the way we did. We had good pitching early and couldn't make the plays behind,” said Panthers coach Dalton Conley. “At the plate you've got to do a little better than muster one run against a good baseball team. It's the state tournament. You're going to see good teams and a lot of best arms on the first day.”

The Panthers will look to stay alive Wednesday at 10 a.m. In an elimination game against Dresden.

“We can't have the errors we had today. But, that's a part of baseball, it's going to happen. It's going to be interesting to see how we respond tomorrow,” said Conley. “There's two ways it could go. You can lay down or you can fight your way back into the tournament. We'll see if we can get after it tomorrow.”

RICHLAND      102 000 9 — 12 17 0

SALE CREEK    000 010 0 —     1 4 0

Whitt, Fox (6), Bratton (7) and Drake; Raby, Harmer (5), Morrow (7), Dempsey (7) and Bell.

WP: Gage Whit LP: Griffin Harmer