By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City took the first step toward its desired destination with a mercy-rule win in its District 14A Baseball Tournament opener on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Tornadoes – hoping for a deep postseason run — scored three times in the first and later took advantage of seven Greenfield errors in a 10-0 shutout victory.
UC (17-9) moves on to face regular season champion Dresden (17-8) tonight at 7 at Elam Stadium, with the winner earning a spot in the tourney finals as well as a spot in next week’s regional.
The Tornadoes and Lions split a pair of regular-season meetings, each winning at the other’s field.
Troy Joslin, Barrett Cox, and Will Ragsdale all had two hits and drove in runs in Union City’s triumph over G’field. Kyler Southerland tripled and had three RBIs, and Skyler Hall had a pair of ribbies for the Twisters.
Ben Kail reached base twice via a single and an error.
Cox struck out five and scattered four singles in four innings to improve his pitching record to 7-1. The senior righthander, who has given up just four earned runs all season, lowered his earned run average to 0.65 for the year.
HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER
UC 2, McKenzie 1
Union City locked up second place in District 12A and earned a host role in next week’s tournament semifinals with a gritty triumph over the Rebels.
The Tornadoes (7-2-3) won despite playing the last 20 minutes with just 10 players after receiving a red card.
Joseph Lattus booted home the game-winning goal midway through the second half, and Ka’Jaylon Bell and Jayce Rogers combined for 12 saves for the Twisters. Silverio Acevedo accounted for UC’s other goal.
Marcos Landeros set up both Tornado goals and became the program’s all-time leader in assists with those passes.
“Before the game, I challenged the guys, and they rose to it and played one of their best matches of the season,” UC head coach Travis VanHooser said. “Carter Wilson was our defensive player of the game. He did an effective job against two of their best players in the midfield.
“Ka’Jaylon (Bell) also stepped up huge in goal and had multiple key saves for us. I’m very proud of Marcos, too, with his career accomplishments.”
The Tornadoes’ first-round home match will be played on Tuesday at 6 p.m.