After several cancelled games and missed practices due to snow and cold, the Pocahontas County High School Warriors were able to sneak in a game Monday evening and pulled out a big win, 6 to 5, in extra innings, against the Richwood High School Lumberjacks.
The sloppy ground and lack of activity showed early on as the ‘Jacks scored one run in the first inning and three more in the second. Starting pitcher Wyatt Workman settled down while the Warrior defense perked up to keep things even for the next few innings.
In the fifth inning, the Lumberjacks scored another run on the strength of a double and an error to take a 5 to 0 lead.
Caleb Mullenax took over the pitching chores in the top of the sixth inning and held the ‘Jacks scoreless through the rest of the game.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Warrior bats came to life and scored three runs with singles from J. D. Sharp and Mullenax and a walk to Braxton Rider in between.
In the top of the seventh, Richwood tagged Mullenax with two long fly balls to left, both run down by Jake Gardner as the defense played solid ball to get out of the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, with the score 5 to 3, Logan Davis was hit by a pitch, Rider got on base on an error, and both scored on a Workman single to tie the score.
In the eighth, Richwood started with a single and a walk, but Mullenax escaped with a pop up and two strike outs. In the bottom of the eighth, the Warriors got a single from Davis who then stole second. Sharp followed with a single to bring Davis home with the winning run for a finish of 6 to 5.
Logan Cox pitched the entire game for the Lumberjacks and had 11 strikeouts while giving up six hits. For PCHS, Workman pitched five innings and had eight strikeouts while Mullenax went three innings with five strikeouts. Richwood collected a total of five hits.
Coach Randy Irvine’s ballers now have a record of 5 and 5. Away games are scheduled this week with Pendleton and Meadow Bridge on April 13 and 14. The next home game is Monday, the 18th with Meadow Bridge and Tuesday, the 19th with Tygarts Valley, both at 5 p.m.