The Warren County High School baseball team exploded for 20 runs on 22 hits in a slugfest on the road Saturday with the Tullahoma Wildcats. The Pioneers ultimately won the game thanks to a six-run 10th inning, 20-14.
The 20 runs are the most the Pioneers have scored in a game this season and sent their record to 12-18. The Pioneers saw contributions up and down the lineup. Colby Elkins led the charge, going 5-for-7 with three singles, two triples, a run scored, and six RBIs.
Cole Estes added four RBIs on three hits. Ethan Smith and Brooks Helton contributed two RBIs apiece, while Taisei Yasunaga, Will Lupo and Wesley Jennings had an RBI apiece.
Yasunaga got the win on the mound in relief, going three innings, allowing no runs on one hit, and striking out two.
A seven-run outburst in the top of the second gave the Pioneers the lead. Helton hit an RBI single to the outfield, to tie things up, 1-1. RBI singles by Smith, Estes, and Lupo extended the lead, 4-1.
A 2-RBI double by Elkins and an RBI single by Peyton Norris ended the scoring barrage for the Pioneers in the top half of the inning, 7-1.
The Pioneers kept their foot on the gas, adding three runs to their lead in the top of the third. Estes hit a 2-RBI single and later scored while advancing on a throw home, 10-1.
The Wildcats fought back in the bottom of the inning, cutting into the Pioneer lead. Three RBI singles, a sacrifice fly, and a bases-loaded walk made it a game again, 10-6, after four.
An Elkins 2-RBI single in the top of the fifth padded the Pioneers lead, 12-6, heading into the bottom of the inning. The Wildcats managed to score a run in the bottom of the inning but failed to do anymore damage on the scoreboard, 12-7.
After the Pioneers failed to score any runs in the top of the sixth, the Wildcats stormed back to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. A walk and a passed ball by the Pioneers, scoring two runs made the lead, 12-9. A 2-RBI double and an RBI double by the Wildcats tied things up, 12-12, after six.
The game remained tied until the top of the eighth when the Pioneers took the lead on a sacrifice fly and a RBI single by Yasunaga, 14-12. The Wildcats answered in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run error by the Pioneers, 14-14.
The Pioneers put the game away for good in the top of the 10th thanks to another outburst at the plate, which saw six runs come in to score.
An Estes RBI single, an Elkins 2-RBI triple, and error by the Wildcats scoring a run, and an RBI single by Jennings gave the Pioneers breathing room, 20-14. The Pioneers needed three outs in the bottom of the inning to get the huge win on the road.
The Wildcats didn’t have an answer in the bottom of the inning, going down in order and the Pioneers prevailed, 20-14.