Rebels rally past Warren County in extra inning

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The Franklin County Rebels beat the Warren County Pioneers 8-7 in eight innings at home Tuesday for their eighth win of the season.

The Rebels rallied from a five-run deficit to take the lead in the sixth inning, and after the Pioneers came back to tie the score and force an extra inning, the Rebels rallied again in the bottom of the eighth for a walk-off victory in district play.

The Pioneers were in control early as they scored two runs each in the first and third innings and added another run in the top of the fourth to take a 5-0 lead.

The Rebels got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth on a single by Brayden Henley, but they remained scoreless through the first five innings.

Following a leadoff single by Gus Gardner in the bottom of the sixth, the next six Franklin County batters drew walks with Henley and Wyatt Lowe taking four balls each to load the bases alongside Gardner before Casen Gilliam, Gavin Sells, Jacob Hardison and Sam Vincent collected one RBI each on their bases-loaded walks.

Gardner completed the rally in his second at-bat of the sixth inning as he hit a two-run single to give the Rebels a 6-5 lead late.

However, the Pioneers weren’t out of the game as they scored a run in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 6-6.

Gilliam led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sells before being replaced by Caden Brown as a pinch runner. However, Brown wouldn’t be able to be brought around to score as the game continued into an extra frame.

The Pioneers scored a run off of a wild pitch in the top of the eighth to once again put the Rebels behind in the contest by a score of 7-6.

However, the Rebels answered back quickly in the bottom half of the frame as Payton Miller got hit by a pitch to lead the inning off, advanced to second on a balk, stole third and scored on a wild pitch to once again tie the game at 7-7.

The inning continued with Henley reaching base on a fielder’s choice, Lowe getting hit by a pitch and Sells also getting on base due to a fielder’s choice to load the bases with two outs in the frame, and Henley was able to race home on another wild pitch to provide the game-winning run.

Josiah Cullins recorded the first two outs of the game on the mound with one strikeout, three hits and two runs allowed.

Gilliam pitched the next 4 1-3 innings in relief with three strikeouts, four hits and three runs allowed.

Miller pitched the final three innings with one strikeout, three hits and two runs allowed to get the victory.

With the win, the Rebels improved to 8-5 on the season and 3-3 in district play.

They will next play Thursday at Tullahoma High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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