Union City roughs up Rebels; SF still superior in Bluegrass

Union City sits atop the pecking order of Obion County’s three baseball teams.
The Tornadoes completed a season sweep of Obion Central and South Fulton Friday evening with a 13-3 win over the Rebels at Elam Stadium.
The contest was halted with two outs in bottom of the sixth via the mercy rule.
UC (11-10), which earlier beat SF in a pair of District 14A games, scored in every inning but the second to whip Central Friday in the two teams’ only meeting after a rainout washed away the two clubs’ first scheduled contest in late March.
Clay Treece went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs to pace a Twister attack that featured 13 hits and nine walks issued by three OC hurlers.
Leadoff man Drake Parker and No. 2 hitter Caleb Long were thorns in the Rebels’ side at the top of the Union City order as they combined to reach base in all 10 of their plate appearances.
Each had two singles, three walks and two runs scored, with Long also driving in four tallies.
Colton Woodward’s RBI single in the top of the first gave Obion Central (7-13) a brief lead before UC answered in its first at-bat with two tallies and added on to its lead in every inning after the second.
A pair of untimely Central errors made nine of Union City’s runs unearned.
In another game Friday — involving the other local entry — South Fulton doubled up Carlisle County 12-6.
All three Obion County clubs will be back in action again today with Union City hosting Bradford, OC playing at Dyersburg and SF welcoming Humboldt.
UC 13, Central 3
Andrew Thayer (2-3) beat his former school with 42⁄3 innings on the mound in which he game up all three runs and five hits.
Tornado ace hurler Treece stuck out four of the five batters he faced in relief.
In addition to Treece, Parker and Long at the dish, UC got two hits and three runs scored from Eric Moore and two singles and a RBI by Luke Searcy.
Searcy and Drew Cooley had the only extra-base hits of the contest, each poking doubles.
Trey Phipps and Ryan Middlebrook had two singles each for Obion Central, which collected six hits in all.
Mitch Arnett was charged with six runs (three earned) in 32⁄3 frames to absorb the pitching loss. Woodward was touched for six hits and seven runs — though just one was earned — in 12⁄3 innings, and Waylon Spaulding got one out while facing four batters before walking in the run that ended the game prematurely.
Today’s UC-Bradford contest will begin at 6 p.m. The Rebels’ varsity matchup at Dyersburg will start at 6:30, after a jayvee game.
SF 12, Carlisle Co. 6
The Red Devils (8-15), who’ve feasted on Kentucky First District teams this season, beat the Comets for the second time by scoring in every inning but the second.
Ryan Prince and Corey Pinion had two singles and three RBIs each to pace the SF offense, while Cody Tatum and Chance Hamlin also had two hits each. Tatum scored twice, while Hamlin crossed the plate three times.
Kyle Clouse also had three runs scored.
Austin Hazlewood picked up his first win in four pitching decisions by going six innings and giving up just two earned runs on four hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts.
Prince got the last three outs in relief, fanning two.
Today’s game vs. H’boldt is slated to begin at 5.

Published in The Messenger 4.23.12