BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School’s baseball team dropped two of three games in a March 20-22 tournament in Melbourne.
The Tigers (8-3) came close to winning their first game, but Potomac School of McLean, Virginia, scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat Union 11-10 on March 20.
Union scored three runs in the top of the seventh to tie it at 6-6. Devin Diggs drew a leadoff walk and scored on a Jeremy Miller double. The Tigers loaded the bases after an Ayden Elixson single and a Tre’Von Lee walk. Tucker Hardee then pushed two runs across with a single.
The Tigers took a 10-6 lead in the top of the eighth. With one out, Diggs and Miller were both hit by pitches. Diggs scored on an Elixson double, while Miller later scored on a passed ball. After Lee drew a walk, Hardee hit another two-run single.
Potomac hit two straight singles to start the bottom of the eighth and loaded the bases when a batter was hit by a pitch. A single plated two runs. A walk loaded the bases again before a hit batter forced a run in, to make the score 10-9. The Panthers then hit another two-run single to win it.
Hardee finished 2 for 5 with four RBI, while Elixson went 3 for 5 with two RBI. Miller hit a double and a triple and finished with one RBI. Blake Agner, who hit a double, had one RBI as well.
Preston Bonsall went 2 for 4.
On March 21, the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to defeat Vero Beach’s Class 2A Master’s Academy 6-3.
It was 2-2 going into the bottom of the fifth. Union loaded the bases with two outs before an error on a ground ball hit by Diggs allowed a run to score.
Master’s Academy took advantage of a double and a two-out single to tie the score at 3-3 in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the inning, Agner drew a leadoff walk, followed by an Erick Lasseter single. Miller bunted into a double play, but Agner scored. Elixson walked, stole second and advanced to third on an error before scoring on a passed ball to make it 5-3. Union then loaded the bases, with Lee, Hardee and Bonsall all drawing walks. Diggs was then hit by a pitch to force a run in.
Diggs, Lee and Miller each finished with one RBI. Lee hit a double, while Bonsall went 2 for 2.
Starting pitcher Ethan Moody gave up three runs on eight hits and no walks through six innings.
Agner closed it out, giving up no hits and striking out one in the final inning.
The Tigers played Miami’s Class 7A Coral Reef on March 22, falling behind 5-0 after the first two innings of an 8-2 loss.
It was 7-0 before Union scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Miller drew a leadoff walk and scored when Coral Reef committed an error on an Elixson single. Lee drove in the second run on a ground out.
Lasseter and Agner went 2 for 3 and 2 for 4, respectively.
The Tigers play at Columbia on Tuesday, March 28, at 7 p.m. and will travel to Ocala to play Trinity Catholic on Thursday, March 30, at 6:30 p.m. Union returns home to play Keystone Heights on Monday, April 3, at 7 p.m. and Trinity Catholic on Tuesday, April 4, at 6:30 p.m.
