By Michael Lindsay
The Upperman Bees opened Class 3A state tournament baseball tournament action with a win Wednesday afternoon as they defeated Chester County, 4-0.
Senior Julian Llano recorded the victory with 5 strikeouts and only 1 hit on 54 pitches in 3 innings.
“We had Julian Llano, one of our three number ones we’ve had all year, and he came out dealing,” said Upperman head coach Wes Shanks. “That gave us some confidence, and guys came out playing well. We made some defensive bobbles, not even mistakes, just a bobble here and there. All in all, the pitching came out and shut them down.”
Seniors Rookie Allison came in as relief for three innings before Justin Fallon recorded the save in the 7th.
“Our game plan was for Julian Llano to go the distance, but he had a little bit of tender arm,” said Shanks. “He was under 55 pitches, so that’s a 1-day rest in a 4-day tournament. Rookie Allison did great, but I also wanted to keep him under 55 pitches.
A Fallon line drive to left in the bottom of the third gave the Bees a 1-0 lead. Upperman extended their advantage with three runs in the bottom of the sixth via a bases-loaded walk and a Karson Holroyd two-run single to lead 4-0.
“We were seeing the ball very well,” said Shanks. “Their pitcher had some good stuff, but we had better quality at-bats. We hit into some double plays sometimes, but we kept hitting. I’m proud of our guys on how they battled to make that pitcher tired, and that’s when we did some damage.”
Up next for the Bees is a 12:30 matchup with Greeneville in the winners’ bracket.
