Success hasn’t come easy for the Warren County Middle School team, except when the Pioneers play Shelbyville.
Warren County swept the regular-season series with Shelbyville Thursday with a 12-6 victory.
The Pioneers, who improved to 4-4 with their second straight win, have come to play when seeing Shelbyville in the opposite dugout.
Warren County won 4-3 at home in the first meeting behind a solid night from Will Lupo on the mound. This time around, the Pioneers broke out the bats for a big victory and Lupo was right in the middle once again.
Lupo finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Warren County offense that accounted for 12 runs on 10 hits.
Lupo gave the Pioneers an early lead when he scored Isaac Golden with a single in the first inning.
The 1-0 score remained until the fourth inning when Warren County gave starter Dylan Tubb plenty of run support.
Matt Savage started the fourth-inning rally with a walk. Jordan Elkins followed with a sacrifice bunt, putting Savage in scoring position. Reed Garrison then drew a walk, putting two runners on for Lucas Rogers.
Rogers delivered with an RBI single to start a big inning. Golden and A.D. Majors followed with a run-scoring singles of their own, then Tubb brought two runners around with a single.
Shelbyville pitched around Lupo, walking the lanky first baseman on four pitches. After a strikeout, Savage came up for the second time and slapped a two-run single into left field.
By the time Tubb and Lupo crossed the plate on Savage’s hot shot, Warren County led 8-0.
The Pioneers made it a double-digit advantage in the top of the fifth. Lupo drove in Golden and Majors with a single, then scored later on a groundout by Dustin Hale.
The 11-run lead was more than enough for Tubb, who pitched into the fifth inning to earn his first victory of the season.
Tubb left in the fifth after allowing two hits to start the inning. Tubb allowed two runs on six hits while striking out three and walking one.
Golden finished the game, giving up four runs in the final three innings on five hits.
Four runs by Shelbyville in the fifth hardly put a dent in the Pioneer advantage. Warren County scored its final run in the top of the sixth as Golden drew a bases-loaded walk.
With the win, Warren County improved to .500 for the season while maintaining at 2-3 Central Tennessee Conference record.
The Pioneers will return to the diamond tomorrow with a home game against Coffee County. The first pitch at Warren County Middle School field is scheduled for 1 p.m.