Cannon’s gamble works for Tigers

Pigeon Forge coach takes a chance in state tournament win chris@theheraldnewspapers.com Larry Cannon is a gambler who doesn’t like to show his cards. It’s a trait that paid off for the Pigeon Forge baseball coach last year when he directed his then unheard-of team deep into the state tournament before finally stumbling in final AA high school baseball game of the year in the state of Tennessee. From the time practice begins in late winter and early spring, through all the rain-outs, off-the-field issues, upset losses, blowout wins, and surprising individual performances, a high school baseball coach builds toward a chance to win the last game of the year. A coach is dealt a variety of different hands throughout the 50-odd days of a prep baseball regular season, and a few more set of circumstances are bound to arise during the postseason stretch, which is entering Day 18 for Cannon and the Tigers. If the Pigeon Forge head coach can maneuver and position his teen-age players through just two more days without losing two games, he will have accomplished a feat every high school baseball coach in every state in the country tries to get to, but only a select few manage to succeed. Pigeon Forge won its first game of the state tournament Tuesday without using its most dominant starting pitcher. Cannon made a big gamble by not sending son Tyler, an All-State pitcher and University of Virginia signee, out to the mound Tuesday morning against a powerhouse Lexington team that many observers felt was the favorite to win the state championship. Instead Cannon used a combination from three other pitchers to keep the opposition off-balance and save the Tigers’ ace for the next day, or perhaps even the next. A team is afforded its first loss in the double-elimination tournament, which makes that first-round win that much more pivotal. By not laying his ace on the table, Cannon may have single-handedly reversed the prognostications, and made last year’s state runner-up Tigers the odds-on favorite to earn the coveted state title. During high school baseball tournaments, pitchers are charted and only allowed to pitch in a maximum number of innings during the course of an allotted number of days, a precautionary measure to prevent lasting injuries to the arms of young pitchers. Cannon used Robbie Watson, French Clark and Bradley Harveston during Tuesday’s win. Because each pitcher was only used in a limited number of innings Tuesday, they are all still available to pitch at any time. By the time the championship game gets played, teams still in contention could by then be down to their fourth or fifth pitcher. By saving Tyler Cannon, the Tigers still have their ace in the hole. In contrast, Lexington sent ace Jon Patterson, who entered the game with a record of 10-0, to the mound to start the first-round game. Patterson lasted six innings in the loss to the Tigers and will now have limited availability for the remainder of the tournament, which could be devastating to a team trying to stave off elimination.