Ben Quick and Lukas Taylor combined to pitch 13 shutout innings to lead the Tullahoma Wildcats to a 2-0, 10-0 sweep of District 12-3A rival Marshall County. Monday night was in Lewisburg, while Tuesday’s run-rule win came at Grider Stadium.
Tullahoma (4-2, 11-9) will travel to non-district Page High School in Franklin on Friday. Next week, the Wildcats will play a two-game, non-district series with Shelbyville, starting Monday at 6:30 pm on the Golden Eagles’ brand-new turf field in Bedford County. Both games will be on 93.9 The Duck.
The Wildcats took over second place in the district with the sweep, trailing only Lawrence County in the standings. Lawrenceburg swept Tullahoma earlier this season and has not lost a district game.
‘Big’ Ben Quick was unhittable Monday night through six innings in Lewisburg. A leadoff single in the seventh broke up the no-no, but Quick struck out 15 Tigers while allowing just two hits with no walks. The Cats did just enough offensively, with Addein Evans scoring on a Parke Fulks double in the third inning and Xander Pogue scoring on a Nate Wilkerson sacrifice fly in the fourth. Tullahoma had six hits, with Evans and Fulks recording two each.
Tuesday night was a different story as Marshall County pitchers hit four Wildcat batters, while the Cats banged out 13 hits and scored at least one run in every inning. Evans was 3-4, Lemmon was 2-2, and pinch runner Elijah Austell scored twice. But it was Wilkerson who brought the big bat, slamming a double and triple.
The Wildcats, leading 7-0, walked it off in the bottom of the sixth inning. Lemmon led off with a single, and Austell ran for him. Schmisseur got hit by a pitch, and with two outs, Price Harden reached on an error, scoring Austell. Wilkerson drove Schmisseur home with a double, and Brycen Campbell walked it off with a single that scored Harden.
Taylor allowed just one Tiger hit and one baserunner in six innings, with eight strikeouts, including four straight to end the game. The only Marshall County hit came with two outs in the fourth inning, but it was a solid base hit into right field.
Tullahoma will complete district play with a two-game series against Franklin County on April 20 and 21.
