Warriors fall to Upperman for second straight night

It was another tough night for the White County High School baseball team, which dropped its second straight game to the Upperman Bees. The Warriors collected seven hits but, much like the night before, struggled defensively, and the miscues proved costly in a 10-5 loss.

White County struck first in the opening inning. Cole Gentry led off with a single and eventually came around to score four batters later when Preston Taylor lined a ball into right field to make it 1-0.

Upperman answered immediately — and in a big way — in the bottom half. Two singles and an error evened the score before a sacrifice fly gave the Bees a lead they wouldn’t give back. A walk and two more defensive errors allowed another run to cross, putting White County in a 3-1 hole after one.

After a quiet second inning on both sides, the Warriors found some momentum in the third. Cole Sims reached on a single and swiped second to move into scoring position. He advanced to third on a flyout from Gentry and came home on an Austin Pionke single. Pionke then stole both second and third before scoring on a catcher’s error, tying the game at 3-3.

But the Bees responded again, putting together another multi-run inning. A double, an error, and two singles pushed the lead to 6-3. A triple followed by a single stretched the advantage to five runs as Upperman regained control.

The Bees added two more runs in the sixth, taking advantage of a hit batter, another White County error, a double, and a walk to extend the lead to 10-3.

White County used four pitchers over the course of the game. Austin Pionke worked into the third inning, allowing eight runs on six hits. Riley Howell saw time in relief before Nick Nelson went 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits. Matthew Wilson closed things out on the mound.

The Warriors will look to regroup in their regular season finale Thursday as they travel to Cookeville to take on the Cavaliers.

WHITE COUNTY BOX SCORE: 

HITS: Clay Brewington 2, Cole Gentry 1, Austin Pionke 1, Preston Taylor 1, Kolt Norris 1, Cole Sims 1 
RUNS: Cole Gentry 1, Austin Pionke 1, Cole Sims 1 
RBI: Preston Taylor 1 
2B: Clay Brewington 
TB: Clay Brewington 3, Austin Pionke 1, Cole Gentry 1, Cole Sims 1, Kolt Norris 1, Preston Taylor 1 
SB: Austin Pionke 2, Cole Sims, Preston Taylor 

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