By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
A young underdog Union City High School baseball team put up one heck of a fight in the District 14-2A Baseball Tournament.
The Tornadoes – with just two seniors on a roster dominated by freshmen – ignored their No. 5 seeding while winning twice over the weekend and led Saturday’s semifinal game big before running out of gas in a 14-10 season-ending loss to Peabody on Saturday.
UC finished the year with an 11-23 record, but played some of its best baseball of the 2026 campaign when it mattered most in its final games.
The Twisters came out of the loser’s bracket after a devastating first-round loss to score 28 runs in their final three outings and got stellar pitching in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday before simply “running out of arms,” according to first-year head coach Austin Atwill.
“I loved our fight. I loved our grit. And I loved our effort,” claimed Atwill, who piloted the Tornadoes through several challenging stretches during the season. “It obviously wasn’t the end result that we wanted, but it can be a good building block for this group if they commit themselves to the process and continue to work in the offseason.”
Freshman Japheth Caldwell had a monster day at the plate on Saturday, driving in five runs with a pair of extra-base hits in Union City’s 11-1 thumping of Ripley. The freshman designated hitter then had two more hits, including a triple, and scored twice to help the Twisters build an 8-2 lead against Peabody before Trenton outscored the Purple and Gold 12-2 over the final three innings.
Another frosh, Brayden Marshall, went 4-for-4 in Saturday’s opener, with yet another 9th grader, Preston Creswell, scoring five runs after reaching base five times.
Both Caldwell and Marshall were named to the all-tournament team for their efforts.
Righthander Mason St. Germain, another promising young Tornado, turned in a stellar, gritty pitching outing against Ripley. St. Germain threw 118 pitches in 6 2/3 innings – 75 for strikes – to collect his third win of the season. He struck out four and scattered six hits.
The following is a recap of Saturday’s games:
UC 11, Ripley 1
Having dropped an extra-inning heartbreaker and two of three previous meetings vs. the Tigers in its tourney opener, Union City exacted some revenge against Ripley to win for the second time in less than 24 hours on Saturday after topping Gibson County 7-2 on Friday.
Caldwell had a two-run double and a two-run triple, while Marshall, who led the team in hitting during the season with a .448 average, had a two-run triple, three singles, and scored four runs.
Ben Howell doubled, reached base four times, and scored twice, and Creswell got aboard three times and scored three runs.
UC scored three runs in the first, fifth, and seventh innings after combining 11 hits (five for extra bases) and a half-dozen walks.
Jackson Vowell retired the final Ripley batter in relief to close out the win.
Peabody 14, UC 10
The Tornadoes’ ultimate undoing came via 10 walks and seven hit batters by a collection of four pitchers – wildness that allowed Peabody to score 14 runs on just eight hits.
Will Kail had a two-RBI double and drove in four runs in all, while Creswell and Caldwell each had extra-base hits and went 2-for-4. Sam Jones scored twice, as did Marshall, Creswell, and Caldwell, while Grissom Hutchison went 2-for-3 with two ribbies while reaching base three times.
Jones, the third UC pitcher, was charged with the pitching loss. He followed Marshall and Vowell to the hill before Caldwell finished the contest.
Hutchison and Jones played their final game in a UCHS uniform as seniors. Jones earned All-District honors for his regular-season play, and also earned a spot on the All-Academic team.