A week ago at this time, the Ringgold High School baseball team was 5-11 overall with three Region 7-AAAA losses and was facing a week with four region games in five days. First-year coach Brent Tucker knew those four games would determine if his Tigers had a playoff future or not.

Following Friday’s 8-6 come-from-behind win at Ridgeland, the Tigers’ future is much brighter. Having gone 4-0 this week, they now are tied for second place at 6-3.

It might have been 5-4 if not for catcher Justin Harris’ up-and-down night.

The senior smacked two home runs, sandwiching a pair of strikeouts in which he stranded four runners. The second homer was a sixth-inning grand slam that turned the game around.

“Coach Tucker made a deal with me when I was in the on-deck circle in the sixth,” Harris said. “He said, ‘I’ll take two strikeouts and two homers any day.’ It sounded good to me.”

Ringgold trailed 4-2 entering the sixth, having left the bases loaded in the second and third innings against Ridgeland freshman pitcher Alex Ridge. An infield single by Nathan Porter and a walk to ninth-place hitter Rob Riley ignited the rally. Zack Lance loaded the bases when his sacrifice-bunt attempt went for a single. Ridge got a forceout at home, but his walk to Drew Walker made it 4-3 and brought an end to his evening.

Michael Smith worked a 3-2 walk from reliever Cody Pemberton to tie the game, and Harris took a 2-0 Pemberton fastball deep over the left-center fence for an 8-4 lead.

“He went 2-0, so I knew a fastball was coming and I pulled it,” Harris said of his eighth home run of the season. “This has been a great week for us, and it’s because we started playing with a different mindset and we’ve become more intense in the dugout and at the plate.”

The Panthers (14-5, 5-4) did not go down without a fight, however. Ringgold ace Zac Fairchild came on to close the game, and following a 1-2-3 sixth inning, ran into trouble in the seventh. Justin Carruth’s two-run homer with one out cut the lead to two, and Ian Brockway followed with a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Fairchild, however, fanned Stephen Ogle before getting Chris Clemons to ground out to end the game.

“This is big for us and for me,” said Tucker, the former Ridgeland coach who was returning for the first time since leaving after last season. “I told the guys, after we left the bases loaded twice, that we were one big hit from busting out, and that it was coming. Justin is a senior, and he’s so strong that all he needs to do is get his bat on the ball and it’s got a chance to go.”

Harris, who got the Tigers on the board with a solo homer in the second after the Panthers had taken a 3-0 lead in the first, joined Colton Cross, Zeth Ford, Smith and Riley with two hits each. Tyler Proctor, who pitched two scoreless innings in relief, got the win. Zach Barnes Stephen Ogle led Ridgeland with two hits each, Ogle with two RBIs.