Pioneers blast L.A., fall to Coffee
The Pioneer baseball team chalked up its first win of the season in impressive fashion Tuesday, but fell short when trying to make it two in a row Wednesday evening.
Warren County rolled over Livingston Academy in Tuesday’s home opener, winning 18-1 in five innings, then traveled to Manchester Wednesday to come away on the short end of a 3-2 decision.
Wednesday’s loss dropped the Pioneers to 1-2 overall, heading into tonight’s home game against Tullahoma.
Tuesday night the Pioneers benefited from a strong pitching performance by junior Joey Haston, and also took advantage of a struggling Livingston Academy defense. The Wildcats committed six errors in the first inning, helping WCHS build a 10-0 run by the end of the frame that would never be challenged.
“We’ve been searching, kind of trying to find out who’s going to play where, and I think tonight we took a step in the right direction,” coach Jimmy Walker said Tuesday. “We shuffled the lineup a little bit. This is a lineup that we’d looked at, and from the offensive side it worked for us tonight.”
After Matt Brown led off the game with a walk, the Pioneers’ next three batters — Tyler Herriman, Cody Mitchell and John Morrison — reached on Wildcat errors. All four eventually scored in the inning, as did Joshua Bratcher, Chase McGee and Derek Kennamer. By the time the smoke had cleared, Brown, Herriman and Mitchell had come around again to put the home club up 10-0.
After serving up a solo home run to the Wildcats’ Cody King to start the second, Haston was virtually untouchable for the rest of the game, allowing just one walk through the final four innings. He finished with the complete-game win, allowing just one hit, two walks and fanning nine batters.
“Joey did a good job,” Walker said. “What he’s got to do is relax and let his stuff take care of him, and coach Martin and coach Holt are working with him so he’ll do that.
“He tries to pump the ball up there sometimes, but when he’s nice and relaxed and fluid, he does a great job.”
The Pioneers put up single runs in the second and third innings, then put the exclamation point on the victory with a six-run fourth, which was highlighted by a two-run single from Zach Minton and RBI base-hits from Dylan Stephens and Brooks Majors. Tony Grissom and Kennamer also had hits in the inning.
Wednesday afternoon, the Pioneers ran into a tough starting pitcher in Coffee County’s Adam Clark, who retired the first 12 batters he faced before the Pioneers broke a 1-0 deficit with a two-run fourth.
John Morrison became the first Pioneer to reach base when he was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Haston followed with a single on a hit-and-run play that moved Morrison to third. Haston stole second, and Jacob Bratcher plated both runners with a double to put WCHS on top 2-1.
Coffee County answered in the bottom of the inning, however, as Cathan Hansert drove in Jackie West with a double, and came home himself on a single from Bubba Vincent for what would prove to be the winning run.
The Red Raiders had taken an early lead against Pioneer freshman Colby Killian with a run in the second, as J.J. Webster singled then came home on an RBI grounder from Josh Peterson.
Haston, Josh Bratcher and Jacob Bratcher had the only three WCHS hits against Clark, who went the distance while striking out 10 Pioneer batters. Killian worked 4-1/3 innings in the loss, allowing three runs on three hits before giving way to Jared Qualls, who worked 1-1/3 innings, and Colby Jenkins, who retired the only batter he faced in the sixth.
The Pioneers host Tullahoma tonight at 6 p.m., in a game which has been designated as “Law Enforcement Night.” Any city, county, or auxiliary police personnel will be admitted to the game free of charge.