The Tullahoma Wildcat baseball season came to an abrupt end Saturday in Lawrenceburg, where the Cats lost to both Lawrence County and Franklin County, eliminating them from the District 12-3A Tournament and ending the 2026 season. Both games were broadcast on 93.9 The Duck.
Tullahoma finished 17-15 overall, the fewest Wildcat baseball wins since 2019’s 12-10-1 team. The Cats have won 145 games during the past five years, an average of 29 wins per year, and have reached at least the region tournament each year.
Saturday’s drama ended those streaks, but not before the Wildcats fought their way back from a 7-0 deficit in the first game against No. 1 seed Lawrence County to take an 8-7 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Lawrenceburg tagged Tullahoma starting pitcher Xander Pogue for three runs in the first inning thanks to two hits, two walks, and a hit batter. The home team scored two more in both the third and fifth innings, building a 7-0 lead.
Feeling confident with its lead, Lawrence County pulled starting pitcher Logan Mays. The Wildcats greeted the new pitcher with a two-run sixth inning, cutting the deficit to five runs. Phillip Lemmon singled, and Ben Quick doubled, scoring pinch runner Elijah Austell. After a walk, Blake Melton drove in Quick on a groundout.
Jonas Roper replaced Pogue and pitched solidly, giving his team a chance to come from behind, which it did. Addian Evans led off the seventh with a double, and Nate Wilkerson and Parke Fulks both walked. Lemmon drove in Evans and Wilkerson with a double and scored on a groundout, cutting the Lawrenceburg lead to 7-6 with two outs.
JD Schmisseur was hit by a pitch, Blake Melton walked, and senior Brycen Campbell drove in two with a clutch single. With an 8-7 lead, all the Wildcats needed was to get three outs, and they could go home and begin preparing for the district championship game.
Instead, Brayden Morrison tied the game with a leadoff home run against Tullahoma reliever Fulks. Two walks and two hits later, the home team was celebrating a victory while the cardinal and black began preparing to play Franklin County.
The hope for Wildcat fans was that the previous game’s late-inning hitting would continue against the Rebels, and it did for one inning. With Evans and Wilkerson on base and two outs, Quick launched a three-run homer that chased Rebel starting pitcher Conner Parker. Reliever Cameron Denton hit Pogue and walked Schmisseur, Melton, and Campbell to give the Cats a fourth run. After that, Denton was spectacular, scattering three hits and overcoming three errors.
Wildcat starter Quick couldn’t hold that lead, though, with Franklin County scoring one in the second inning and five more in the fourth, then adding an insurance run in the seventh.
Graduation will hit the Wildcats hard, as Quick, Lemmon, Lucas Taylor, Evans, Campbell, Pogue, and Schmisseur will walk the line, leaving Luke Wilson, Roper, Beaux Saunders, Brodie Howard, and Fulks as next year’s seniors.
