The Warren County High School baseball team has made it a point to avenge losses, so it was no shock the Pioneers brought their “A” game against the Franklin County Rebels in the championship of the Franklin County tournament.
After losing to Franklin County in pool play, the Pioneers defeated the Rebels 8-5 in the finals to claim the championship.
It was the third time Warren County has beaten a team it lost to previously. The Pioneers did it to Grundy County earlier this season and started the Franklin County tournament by beating the Upperman Bees 4-0 two weeks after the Pioneers felt the sting of the Bees at home.
The most important revenge game came in the tournament championship though.
After losing 5-0 to Franklin County Saturday morning, Warren County battled its way back into the championship to face the home-standing Rebels.
In the championship, the Pioneers put the game away with a big fourth inning led by senior Collin Hutchins.
Hutchins had a two-run double which broke the game open as the Pioneers plated seven runs to take a commanding lead.
The game entered the fourth inning tied at 0-0 as senior Micah McColloch had kept the Rebels off the board early.
Kyle Rutledge broke the tie with an RBI single, then Lee Carden made it 2-0 by drawing a walk with the bases loaded.
Warren County increased its lead when an error brought a third runner around. By the time Logan Underhill hit a sacrifice fly to score Rutledge, the Pioneers led 4-0.
Hutchins made sure there would be no coming back for the Rebels when he blasted a double into the right-field gap to score two teammates. Hutchins capped the inning by scoring on another error by Franklin County.
David Lee entered in the bottom of the fourth and, despite having some sixth-inning struggles, the junior picked up the victory in the championship game.
Franklin County scored one run in the fourth, then threatened to come back by scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-5.
Warren County got some insurance in the top of the seventh when Rutledge made things happen on the base paths.
After drawing a lead-off walk, Rutledge promptly stole second. A wild pitch put Rutledge 90 feet away from scoring and the junior took home on another wild pitch.
With a three-run lead to work with, Lee went right after Franklin County in the seventh. After a lead-off single, Lee struck out two straight Rebels and forced a third to ground out to Underhill at shortstop for the final out.
Lee had a busy Saturday, appearing in all three games the Pioneers played.
Lee earned a save against Covenant Christian Academy in a matchup that earned Warren County a berth in the championship game.
The Pioneers defeated Covenant Christian, a team which features Warren County residents Kaleb Rymer and Brody Fernandez, 11-9 in a slugfest.
Austin Green and Park Hilliard had two hits apiece to lead the Pioneers. Fernandez led Covenant Christian with two hits.
Freshman Collin Smedley earned his first varsity victory by pitching three innings and allowing two runs on three hits while striking out three. Rymer took the loss for Covenant Christian, pitching a complete game and allowing 11 runs on eight hits while striking out five and issuing six walks.
Lee nailed down the save by working the final inning and striking out two.
In the first game against Franklin County, Warren County mustered only three hits in a shutout loss. Underhill, Hutchins and Brett Mullican each had hits against the Rebels. Senior Logan McCormack took the loss, pitching four innings before Lee took over the final two innings.
The Pioneers opened the tournament last Friday night with a 4-0 victory over the Bees. Rutledge pitched a gem against Upperman to earn the win.
Rutledge pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout. The junior struck out two and walked two.
Alex Hillis sparked the offense with two hits and two RBIs. Garrison Holmes had two hits and one RBI and Carden added a run-scoring single.