WCHS pounded by Tribe before slaughtering Bison
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Facing Riverdale for the second straight day, Warren County struggled both at the plate and in the field, falling to the Warriors 15-4. But against Grayville, Illinois? Bison the Pioneers came to life, scoring in every inning on their way to an 11-3 victory.
The Riverdale game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but cancelled due to weather. And since District 7-AAA?s bylaws require league foes to play their series on back-to-back days, the contest had to be moved to Thursday. Grayville, which uses its spring break each season to hone its skills against southern opponents, had already been scheduled for Thursday night, resulting in the impromptu doubleheader.
After managing just one hit in Wednesday?s opening game with the Warriors, the Pioneers came through with seven base knocks against Riverdale Thursday. Riverdale got to the four WCHS pitchers for 13, however, and took control of the game with six unearned runs in the third inning.
Warren County was ahead 1-0, courtesy of a second-inning RBI double from Clint Newman which scored Jordan Powers. But with two out in the top of the third, No. 9 hitter Alex Watson reached on an error ? one of four by the Pioneers in the inning and seven defensive gaffes in the game ? and began a stretch of seven straight RHS players reaching base. A two-run single from Will Skinner helped highlight the frame, and gave the Warriors a 6-1 lead.
Warren County posted its final three runs in the bottom of the fifth, with Chase Basham coming in off the bench and lashing a two-run double down the left field line before Josh Bratcher drove him home with a single.
But Riverdale added a single run in the fourth, two more in the fifth, another in the sixth and five more ? including a three-run Chad Hunter home run ? in the seventh.
Hunter and Pleas Wright each had three hits for the Warriors, who improved to 6-1 on the year and 2-0 in district play. Matt Utterback worked two innings of one-run ball on the mound before giving way to Coty Woods, who pitched five innings, allowing five hits.
Josh Mullins got the start for WCHS, working three innings before giving way to Nick Cantrell. Casey Talbert came on to pitch in the sixth, working 1-2/3 innings before Coty Grissom came on to record the final two outs.
n Against Grayville, a school with an enrollment of 105, according to the Illinois High School Sports Administration?s Web site, the Pioneers had little trouble offensively, taking a 3-0 lead in the first on a Jordan Underhill RBI double and back-to-back RBI groundouts from Colby Killian and Newman.
Grayville came through with a pair of unearned runs in the second, with Travis Thompson and Travis Rudisill drew back-to-back walks, and scored on a throwing error from Basham.
But Mullican reached on an error and scored on a Powers grounder in the second, and then came up big in the third, belting his second homer of the year, a two-run shot which scored Basham, who had legged out an infield single. Earlier in that frame Justin Bouldin had reached on an error and scored on a Grissom grounder, and following the homer Casey Talbert walked, coming in to score on an Underhill triple.
Newman led off the fourth with a walk, later scoring on a fielder?s choice from Basham, and in the fifth Powers connected for a two-out single, coming home when Killian followed with a base hit up the middle.
Warren County?s last run came in the sixth, when Bouldin singled and came home on a Grissom double. And although the Bison put together three hits and scored another run in the top of the seventh, Tyler Gilley ? who had come on in the sixth in relief of Andy Southard ? retired the final batter on a ground ball to seal the win.
Southard worked five innings of three-hit ball, with neither of the Bison?s first two runs credited as being earned. He fanned eight, but walked six in the winning effort. Gilley gave up three hits and struck out two in his two innings of relief.
Underhill, Bouldin and Grissom all had two hits each, as the Pioneers improved to 2-3 on the year.
WCHS takes on White County in a district series this week.