Union City took the first step toward its desired destination with a mercy-rule win in its District 14A Baseball Tournament opener on Wednesday.
School Communications Director Mike Hutchens said the second-seeded Tornadoes, who are hoping for a deep postseason run, scored three times in the first and later took advantage of seven Greenfield errors in a 10-0 shutout victory.
Union City is now (17-9), and moves on to face regular season champion Dresden (17-8) tonight at 7:00 at Elam Stadium.
The winner earns a spot in the tournament finals as well as a spot in next week’s regional.
The Tornadoes and Lions split a pair of regular-season meetings, each winning at the other’s field.
Troy Joslin, Barrett Cox, and Will Ragsdale all had two hits and drove in runs in Union City’s triumph over Greenfield. Kyler Southerland tripled and had three RBIs, and Skyler Hall had a pair of ribbies for the Twisters.
Ben Kail reached base twice via a single and an error.
Cox struck out five and scattered four singles in four innings to improve his pitching record to 7-1. The senior righthander, who has given up just four earned runs all season, lowered his earned run average to 0.65 for the year.
