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BY JESSE SMITHEY
EAGLEVILLE — Luke Treece, the newly minted Class 1A Mr. Baseball winner, took a minute to gather himself before his at-bat in the seventh inning Tuesday afternoon.
Not yet in the box, he held his bat out from his face a bit, closed his eyes and just existed there for a spell.
The Coalfield Yellow Jackets hadn’t been able to muster a run all day in the Class 1A state tournament opener at Eagleville, and he knew he needed to jumpstart a comeback.
He almost made it happen, too.
Treece, just a sophomore, belted a shot off Eagleville standout Brayden Baker to deep right-center — but centerfielder Ben Thompson made a leaping grab for the out at the warning track.
“I just wanted to try and do what I did,” Treece said of what he envisioned before his at-bat. “I hit it the best I could.
“It just didn’t work out.”
And that was the theme of the day, as Coalfield only notched two hits against Baker in a 2-0 loss to Eagleville (32-5) to kick off a state tournament for which the Yellow Jackets had big expectations.
They had made state last year and returned their entire roster for 2023.
Getting shutout wasn’t what they’d envisioned. Coalfield senior Cole Hines started the top of the first with a single to center. Coalfield (25-10) didn’t get another hit until Reilly Brown singled with two outs in the sixth.
Baker, a Mr. Baseball runner-up to Treece, finished the day with a complete-game shutout, striking out five and walking none. He entered the day with a 0.43 ERA, 69 strikeouts and 11 walks.
Opponents had hit just .125 off him.
“Somebody’s given them a pretty decent scouting report. We talked about it coming down here. The scouting report on us is: move back on us about 10-15 feet. We had two deep flyballs today that typically would have been doubles,” Coalfield coach Andy Lowe said.
“It just wasn’t our day, you know.”
Hines pitched well for Coalfield, save the third inning when Eagleville got its two runs off a bases-loaded walk and sac fly.
He pitched six innings, allowed just three hits and struck out two against one walk.
But Hines hit two batters in the third, allowing the Eagles to cultivate their runs.
Tuesday’s game began at 4 p.m. Central time and was done by 5:13.
“Cole pitched his guts out all day. We traveled from Coalfield at 9 in the morning. We had to go use other people’s facility. We had to play on Eagleville’s home field. We had one bad inning. Maybe he got leg-weary in that inning,” Lowe said.
“I’m not for sure. To hold Eagleville to two runs on their home field, he threw a well-pitched game.”
Coalfield will seek to avoid elimination at 10 a.m. Central time on Wednesday against Jo Byrns or Peabody. That game will be played at Eagleville. If Coalfield wins it, it will play again at 5 p.m. Wednesday in another elimination game.
TREECE WINS MR. BASEBALL
Luke Treece, Coalfield Baseball. (Photo by Danny Parker)
The Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association recognized its Mr. Baseball winners at a ceremony Tuesday morning.
Luke Treece, a 2025 catcher, took the honor in Class 1A.
He was also the Player of the Year in District 3-A. Treece said he was shocked to have won it as a sophomore.
“It means the world to me,” Treece said. “I want to thank all my coaches for pushing me.”
Coalfield coach Andy Lowe said watching Treece win it was exciting.
“For Luke to win Mr. Baseball, it’s a big honor for our school, our community and for Luke,” he said. “It’s well deserved. We’ve watched a lot of players and talent in East Tennessee this year, and he’s been one of the top players.
“Just a great honor. We’ve had a great program throughout the years. For coaches to recognize him as a Mr. Baseball even means more, coming from the coaches.”