Oakland rallies for 9-3 win over Warren County
MURFREESBORO — Oakland proved Tuesday night that while it may be having a “down” season, it’s never out of the picture.
The Patriots scored nine unanswered runs to bounce back from an early Pioneer lead and hand Warren County a 9-3 District 7-AAA loss.
With the loss the Pioneers fell to 15-11 overall and 5-4 in district play, and now stand tied with the Patriots for third place in the league standings. Oakland improved to 11-14 on the season.
“Our kids have to realize when you’re playing the Oaklands and Riverdales, you can’t score two or three runs and expect that to hold up. We don’t have that caliber of pitching,” said Pioneer head coach Jimmy Walker. “What we’ve got to learn to do is keep scoring, and win every inning.”
The Pioneers, who connected for seven hits against Oakland starter Blake Melton, were in the driver’s seat early, scoring in the first inning when Daniel Owens drove in Derek Kennamer with a sacrifice fly. Kennamer had drawn a walk to lead off the game.
Owens came through in the fourth, doubling home Glen Rogers, who had led off the frame with a single. Chase McGee came on to run for Owens, and scored when Scott Dunham grounded into a fielder’s choice.
But the floodgates opened in the bottom of the fourth, as Oakland sent nine men to the plate, connecting for five hits and taking advantage of two WCHS errors to plate five runs against Pioneer hurler Ryan Vincion.
The Patriots kept the hit parade going in the fifth inning, striking for four more runs on five hits to put the game out of reach.
“I kept telling our kids if we could jump on them a little bit, we had them,” Walker said. “We got up 3-0, but things went south a little after that.
“They found a way to get back into the game, and that’s just typical Oakland. You give them opportunities, and they’re going to take advantage of them.”
Melton went the distance for Oakland, striking out three WCHS batters while walking one and hitting another. The Pioneers left four runners on base.
Vincion was hit with the loss, surrendering all nine runs (eight earned) over 4-2/3 innings. The senior gave up 11 hits and walked one batter. Colby Jenkins worked a scoreless 1-1/3 innings of relief, giving up two hits.
Rogers had the only multiple-hit game for the Pioneers, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Owens had a pair of RBIs on a 1-for-2 day, scoring a run, while Zach Pelham, Jake Mitchell, Nathan Cantrell and Matt Brown also had hits for the Pioneers.
Leadoff man Nathan Hines went 2-for-4 for Oakland, driving in three runs. Jake Birkofer was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, Mike Richardson was 2-for-3 with two runs, and Dougie Birkofer finished with two runs and three RBIs.
The Pioneers took on Riverdale on the road Thursday night, and face Tullahoma in their final home game of the season Saturday at noon.