BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School’s baseball team scored four runs in the fifth inning en route to defeating Class 7A West Port 6-4 on April 10 in Lake Butler.
The Tigers (12-13), who got a run on Bo Wilson’s sacrifice fly in the fourth, trailed 3-1 entering the bottom of the fifth. Devin Diggs walked before Jake Walker and Foster Smith hit back-to-back singles, with Diggs scoring on Smith’s hit. Ayden Androlevich reached on an error, which allowed the tying run to score. A Kacen Thomassen sacrifice scored a run before Androlevich, who advanced to third on a passed ball, scored on a wild pitch, making it a 5-3 game.
Diggs hit an RBI double in the sixth to complete the Tigers’ scoring.
Androlevich finished as the only Union batter with multiple hits, going 2 for 2.
Walker earned the win, taking the mound with one out in the fifth and pitching through the sixth inning. He gave up one run and no hits, while striking out three.
Carter Whitehead threw the final inning, allowing no runs and no hits.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak, which began with an 11-1, six-inning loss to visiting Lafayette on April 8.
Union had just three hits, with one being a solo home run hit by Foster Smith in the third inning.
Lafayette entered the game ranked second in the Rural Class, while the Tigers were ranked seventh.
On April 9, Union lost 10-3 to The Villages at St. Johns River State College in Palatka.
It was a 10-0 game before the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth — two on a Diggs single and one on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Androlevich.
Union will host the District 6-Rural tournament, which begins Monday, April 14, with two quarterfinal games: fourth seed Fort White (11-9) vs. fifth seed Hilliard (4-16) at 4 p.m. and third seed Branford (19-6) vs. sixth seed Hawthorne (10-9) at 7 p.m.
Top seed Lafayette (18-2) will play the Fort White/Hilliard winner at 4 p.m. on April 15, while second seed Union will play the Branford/Hawthorne winner at 7 p.m.
The championship game will be Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m.
