DANDRIDGE — As the Patriots of Jefferson County celebrated a win to keep them alive in the District 2-AAA tournament, the Morristown West Trojans saw the diamond for one last time in the 2021 high school baseball season.
The Trojans came in with much confidence after their win against Cocke County on Friday while Jefferson County was hoping to make up for what happened in a loss to Seymour the day before. The final result looked as if the Patriots recovered just fine after defeating West 13-4 in a district tournament elimination game on Saturday.
“I thought my team came out today and responded well,” head coach Zach Reese of Jefferson County said. “Honestly, I was still mentally drained from the game against Seymour; however, my guys out there playing did a great job of forgetting it and focusing on what was going on today. They did a great job leading us in this victory to give us another day of baseball.”
West (4-27) gave Jefferson County (18-13) a scare after cutting the 5-0 deficit to just one run in the fifth inning before the Patriots answered back in the sixth inning.
Reese saw his team collect eight runs in the top of the sixth off of five hits. The Patriots took the 13-4 lead after the sixth inning and relief pitchers Maddux Rogers and Dylan Edmonds left the Trojans empty in the sixth and seventh innings to protect their win.
“Hunter Hanson did what he needed to do for us starting the game,” Reese said. “That fifth inning kind of rattled him a little. We went to Maddux in the sixth inning, and even though he didn’t throw a lot of pitches, he gave us the advantage by cooling off (West).”
Hanson started the game at the mound for Jefferson County and pitched five innings while striking out five. Rogers struck out two of the four hitters he faced.
West dealt four of its guys at the mound with Jordan Holdway having the best day of pitching with his two innings pitched and striking out two.
Holdway was the only senior on the Trojans as he saw his career come to an end. Even though Pickett will miss Holdway, he knows the future is bright for the youthful baseball club.
“I told our guys to keep our heads up and look forward to what we have in the future,” Pickett said. “Our young guys know it’s time to put in the work in the summer and the fall to be ready for the next season. As far as our one senior goes, we hate to lose a guy like Holdway. I just want him to keep his head high and be proud of what he did for us.”
West was able to show some of that potential after climbing back from a 5-0 deficit against Jefferson County in the fifth inning.
The Patriots continued their ways of winning with small-ball plays in the first few innings, capitalizing on whatever West gave them.
However, the Trojans strung together three straight hits to begin their fifth inning. Rylen King scored on an error after his single, Tashawn Griffin knocked a 2-RBI single to left field, and Malakhi Isom hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the fourth run.
“I thought we came out and put together some good innings, with the fifth being our best,” Pickett said. “We were right in the game until the last inning. We got the bats hot there in the fifth inning. I don’t think the score dictates the entire game. We were competing the whole way. We ran out of arms at the mound and started to throw some balls towards the end.”
After that, the Trojans saw their hot bats go cold.
Jefferson County’s sixth inning truly put the nail in the coffin for the Trojans. Isaac Lawson started the hitting with his triple, and Tanner Franklin and Jacob Rogers knocked back-to-back RBI doubles for the third and fourth run of the inning.
Beau Revord followed in his upperclassmen’s footsteps with his RBI hit being a triple. Lawson then took advantage of his second time at the plate in the inning with his 2-RBI single to drive home the final two runs scored in the game.
“I wish I knew what got us going in that inning,” Reese said. “I thought it kind of gave us a little advantage after West continued to switch pitchers in the end. We had a few big hits and our guys drove some runners home. We were trying to take advantage of what we got at the plate.”
Lawson went 3-for-5 on the day with his three RBIs. Jacob Rogers finished the game going 2-for-4 at-bat and drove home two runners as the Patriots racked up 11 hits against the Trojans who only had seven hits.
Jefferson County now advances to another elimination game in the District 2-AAA tournament to face South-Doyle on Monday with a 6 p.m. first pitch.
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