Small steps toward the season turned into big leaps Tuesday when the Pioneer demolished visiting Grundy County 20-1 at Patrick Ramsey Field.
Warren County smashed 20 hits at home and took the sting away from the Yellow Jacket offense as five Pioneer pitchers combined to limit the visitors to just five hits over 10 innings in valuable preseason work for both programs.
“It’s always good to get some confidence going because in this game, you fail more often than you succeed, especially at the plate,” said WCHS coach Phillip King. “I’m really proud of the kids in all aspects. We swung it pretty good, which is a testament to the approaches we’ve been working on and the mindset they have when they step in the box.”
Adrian Harris, Sam Robinson and Woogs Bryan all had three-hit performances in the scrimmage, which saw the Pioneers jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and roll off 10 runs in the first three frames to control from start to finish.
Tyler Adams and Ryder Gilispie added two hits each. Preston McAbee, Keagan Thompson, Isaac Smith, Seth Barrett, Carter Lee, Jaytton Baker and Hayven Jones all finished with one hit apiece.
While the offense was potent most of the night, the pitching may have been even better. Brady Swallows highlighted the night by striking out nine in three innings of work, while Lealon Arnold, Evan Snapp, Jones and Baker all showed flashed in their time on the bump as the Pioneers finished with 24 punchouts to just one walk.
“For me, one of the biggest things I spent quite a bit of time talking to them at Wednesday’s practice before we started is what we were able to do from the mound. All winter, you preach pitching to contact and trying to get a hitter’s barrel moving. It’s hard to do if you’re nowhere near the strike zone – something that has plagued us in the past,” said King. “We needed to cut down on free passes given to the other team, whether it’s walks, hit-by-pitch or errors.
“Somebody watching might have gotten excited about the strikeouts we had – and it’s great and should be celebrated – but what we as the coaching staff were more pleased with was we had a 72 percent strike rate and were throwing a first-pitch strike 78 percent of the time. If we can continue to control the count, we will give ourselves a chance to win some games and be in a lot of games as the year goes on.”
Defensively, the Pioneers committed five errors in 10 frames, something King said is, “just part of the game – it’s going to happen.” Minimizing the damage of those errors was important for the Pioneers and they did it by controlling the free passes, stopping one miscue from starting a snowball effect on the scoreboard.
“The errors didn’t kill us like they have in the past because we weren’t in a scenario where an error came after a walk or two and the flood gates opened where we couldn’t buy an out,” said King.
Warren County will continue its preseason work with a matchup against Cannon County at home today, Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m.
Brent Carden photo – Brady Swallows was electric on the mound for the Pioneers Tuesday, striking out nine batters in three innings of work.