Logan Underhill’s talents have been on display for four years at Patrick Ramsey Field. Twice voted the Warren County High School baseball team’s MVP and a two-time All-District 6-AAA honoree, it would seem everybody would already know how good Underhill is. Yet it seems the senior Pioneer leader has even more skill than originally thought.
Underhill threw his second complete-game shutout of the season Saturday against White County to highlight a day when Warren County won two games in the preseason District 6-AAA tournament. The Pioneers defeated the Warriors 5-0 behind Underhill’s brilliant pitching performance, which followed a 4-3 extra-inning win over Rhea County Saturday morning.
Warren County (5-6) was in desperate need of a victory Saturday after starting the preseason tournament with three straight defeats. The Pioneers fell to Cumberland County 5-3 last Thursday, then followed it up by being shut out 8-0 by Cookeville and dropping a 13-11 slugfest with Stone Memorial Friday.
By the time Saturday’s games started, the Pioneers were in search of anything positive to takeaway from the tournament. The pitching of Underhill and Will Sweeton Saturday was definitely a good place to start.
Coach Adam Childs decided to go with Underhill – who had pitched a five-inning shutout against Marion County a week prior – when the Pioneers faced White County in their final game Saturday. The senior star made it look like a wise decision as Underhill frustrated the Warriors for seven innings while striking out five and allowing only one runner to reach third base.
The Pioneers gave their pitcher early run support as senior Park Hilliard, who shifted to shortstop in Underhill’s absence, hit the first pitch he saw in the first inning over the left-field fence at Stone Memorial High School baseball field.
Hilliard was back in the middle of the offense in the second inning when came up with the bases loaded and singled to score freshman Isaac Golden. Junior Chayse Frye also added a single in the second inning which brought around Underhill and Jett Urtubees.
Leading 4-0 after two innings, Underhill made short work of the White County offense through the middle of the game. At one point, Underhill retired 9-of-10 batters before allowing a one-out single in the sixth inning. A two-out walk gave the Warriors two runners aboard, but Underhill forced a groundball to shortstop that Hilliard scooped up and tossed to Lucas Rogers at second for a force out.
Underhill would help his own cause in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI single to score Golden, who finished the game with two hits while starting in center field for the Pioneers.
White County couldn’t muster a rally in the seventh as Underhill forced a lazy fly ball to Urtubees to end the game.
Coach Childs was happy to take home the victory over the Warriors to finish Saturday with two wins.
“Winning two Saturday was huge, especially getting a victory over our rival White County,” said Childs. “We definitely hit a rough patch, but our boys never gave up and battled back. We salvaged some good after such a bad start.”
Sweeton was the star on the mound for the Pioneers early Saturday when he pitched eight innings to earn a win over Rhea County. Sweeton held the Eagles in check while Warren County rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning and ultimately won when Jordan Tidwell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning.
The Pioneers forced extra innings when Hilliard sparked a sixth-inning rally with a solo home run to make it 3-2. Frye knotted the game with an RBI double that scored Lee Carden, who reached on an error.
Sweeton had to battle out of a big jam in the sixth inning to keep the game tied. After an error loaded the bases with one out, Sweeton struck out a batter - one of three in the game for the senior – before forcing a flyout to center field to end the inning.
Neither team scored in the seventh, but the Pioneers would break the tie for good in the eighth inning.
After recording a quick out, the Eagles allowed Frye and Rogers to reach base on errors. With runners on the corners, Hunter Mullican was walked intentionally to set up force plays at every bag. It wouldn’t matter though.
Rhea County made the biggest mistake of the eighth inning when reliever Dylan Pritchett hit Tidwell with a pitch, allowing Frye to walk home. The Eagles turned a double play to get out of the inning, but the damage was already done.
Coach Childs decided to stick with Sweeton in the bottom of the eighth inning and the submariner made sure it was a good choice. Sweeton’s  side-arm throwing style that held the Eagles off the scoreboard  for the final four innings was enough to preserve the one-run lead when he forced back-to-back flyouts to end the game with a runner on second.
After earning two wins on the final day, the Pioneers found themselves one game out of second place in the district standings. Though it wasn’t where coach Childs hoped to be after the big first weekend, he believes his team can play much better while making a push for a district crown.
“We’re not satisfied with how we finished for the weekend because we know we can play better,” said Childs. “We’re only one game back of second place and, after the way we played, we ended up being in decent position. Not where we wanted to be, but not out of it.
“Our pitching staff has done a pretty good job and kept us in ball games. We need to support them a little more with our bats. If we can get both clicking at the same time, we might be able to put together a little winning streak. There’s still a lot of games to be played so we can make up ground.”
The Pioneers will be back in action this weekend in the Lincoln County tournament. Warren County is scheduled to take on Lawrence County and Lincoln County Friday night starting at 4 p.m.