The Upperman Bees opened their final regular-season District 7-3A series with a road win as freshman pitcher Jackson Green struck out 17 batters en route to a 5-1 win at White County.
Upperman and White County entered Monday’s game tied atop the district standings at 4-2 overall.
“There was a lot of skin in the game,” said Upperman head coach Wes Shanks. “That was the message for this team. Jackson was really dialed in tonight and we’re pleased with him. I’ve been around Upperman baseball a long time, and there’s plenty of names with big-time accomplishments. He put his name in a single game mark on that list.”
Green surrendered 3 hits and 1 walk to go along with his 17 strikeouts in the complete-game victory. Green and senior Carson Shupe each went 2-4 at the plate, with Shupe hitting a double and scoring a run.
“We had options; Jackson Green, who’s been one of the best pitchers in the conference, or Chris Wirsing, who’s a district MVP from a year ago,” said Shanks. ” We thought JG earned an opportunity for a road game, and he just dialed them up.”
Green opened the contest with a two-out single to center, scoring Chris Wirsing to give Upperman a 1-0 lead after one inning. Braden Green tacked on a run in the top of the second via another two-out single, this one scoring Andrew Hedrick to extend Upperman’s lead to 2-0 after two.
The Bees went to work in the top of the third inning as they scored three runs on singles by Denton Huddleston and Jackson West and a double from Dawson Mullins, making the score 5-0 entering the fourth inning.
White County got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as a Clay Brewington double scored Preston Taylor to make the score 5-1 after four. Neither team scored again over the final three innings as Upperman secured the 5-1 win in Sparta.
The Bees improve to 5-2 in District 7-3A play while White County falls to 4-3. The Bees can lock up the overall #1 seed in District 7-3A on Tuesday with a win over the Warriors in Baxter.
“It’s nice to have two dogs on the mound,” said Shanks. “Because we knew that we also wanted an opportunity to win conference at Baxter, and we’ll have Chris Wirsing available. But White County is a good ball club and they’re going to make some adjustments. That’s what you want; #1 and #2 battling for the top spot as we go into district tournament play.”
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