The Warren County High School Pioneer baseball team, coming off a trip to Chattanooga over the weekend, was looking to get a win at home Monday night against Rhea County High School.
The Pioneers fell to the Eagles, 4-3, in a game the Pioneers managed to lead until the top of the sixth.
The Pioneers were led at the plate by Colby Elkins, who went 2-for-3 with a single and a double. Taisei Yasunaga also contributed at the plate going 2-for-3 with two singles. Pioneer starting pitcher Cameron Shaw went the distance, going seven innings, striking out two, and giving up four earned runs, but he suffered the loss.
The Pioneers got on the board early after they saw the Eagles put up a run in the top of the first. Brooks Helton hit a double to center field, scoring Yasunaga and Elkins to give the Pioneers the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the first. A batter later, Nick Williamson doubled to left field, scoring Helton, and the Pioneers had the early lead, 3-1, going into the second.
Neither team added a run in the second inning and the Eagles cut into the Pioneer lead in the top of the third to make it a 3-2 game going into the bottom of the inning.
The Pioneer bats cooled in the bottom half of the inning, and the score remained 3-2 in favor of the Pioneers heading into the fourth.
Both teams were at a stand-still, leaving runners on base, until the top of the sixth, when the visiting Eagles took the lead for good. Westin Ray gave Rhea County the lead with a 2-RBI double to left field off Shaw and the Eagles took the lead for the first time since the first inning, 4-3, going into the bottom of the sixth.
The Pioneer bats continued to go cold in the bottom of the inning, and then again in the bottom of the seventh, to ultimately lose the game to the Eagles 4-3.
With the loss, the Pioneers dropped to 3-4 on the season. The Pioneers were back in action Tuesday night in Sparta when they faced the White County Warriors. Results weren’t available at press time.