Pitching lifts Longhorns to 7-3 record

Two quality starts on the mound didn't translate into a Three Rivers Conference sweep last week, but the Johnson County baseball team bounced back to salvage a split with West Greene. Braxton Bragg allowed one run in five innings while anchoring the Longhorns' 4-1 win in Mosheim on Tuesday – one day after a six-run seventh had spoiled Brock Jones' effective outing and lifted the Buffaloes to an 8-2 victory. Bragg, a right-handed junior, struck out six and walked two while yielding four hits. Senior Carson Jennings, who hadn't pitched since March 6, pitched two scoreless innings for the save. He gave up a hit and a walk and struck out three. "It was Braxton Bragg's second consecutive conference start, and he was magnificent – he was amazing," Johnson County coach Nick Perkins said. "I mean, he gave us five tremendous innings on the road at West Greene a day after a tough seventh inning. We could not have asked for any more. "And then Jennings made his first pitching appearance since Friday, March the sixth, and went two innings to earn the save. We're still being very cautious with Carson." Bragg helped his cause by driving in two runs. Kaden Blevins was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI. "It was a very big March conference win on the road for the Longhorns," Perkins said. Perkins entered the series wanting at least a split, and that looked dicey after West Greene piled up six runs in the seventh to break open a tie game on Monday at Pete Pavusek Memorial Stadium. But Jones, a left-handed sophomore, did all he could to win game one for the 'Horns. Jones allowed one earned run in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven, walked one and gave up five hits. "Brock was tremendous," Perkins said. "It was the best start of his high school career, for sure." If he had it to do over, Perkins might not have lifted Jones in the sixth. "In hindsight, maybe I should've left him in," he said. "I pulled him after 87 pitches. We thought they were starting to have a little more quality at-bats against him, and really, I just wanted to pull him with him walking off the mound with a successful outing. I didn't wanna leave him in too long and maybe him walk off the bump with a sour taste in his mouth." Jones' changeup was a bitter pill for a number of Buffaloes batters. "It was probably the most we've called that pitch in a game, and it was very effective," Perkins said. "We have added pitches to his repertoire this year, and I think it's helping him have an opportunity to have more success and definitely eat up more innings with more pitches to work with." Jennings' two-run hit gave the Longhorns (3-3, 7-3) a two-run lead in the first inning. "Carson is just such a presence in our lineup," Perkins said. "In his two years playing for me, he's walking every 4.6 at-bats. He just has an uncannily keen eye for the strike zone. He's not gonna chase pitches. Carson Jennings will give you professional at-bats game in and game out." Johnson County defeated Tri-Cities Christian Academy, 13-3, on Thursday. Ethan Smith got the complete-game (six innings) victory. He allowed two earned runs, four walks and five hits while striking out seven. "Ethan Smith had a 101-pitch quality start against the Tri-Cities Christian Eagles," Perkins said. "What a luxury for us to be able to turn to a senior lefty on a Thursday night when a lot of guys are unavailable from the two conference games, and him give us a quality start and lead us to victory." Blevins, Bragg and shortstop Grayson Espinoza had productive days at the plate. "With Grayson, who we affectionately call Manny," Perkins said, "we've just talked about staying back on the baseball – what we refer to as backing the ball up. And I think he had a much better approach against the Eagles that helped him. "We want to tip our cap to Tri-Cities Christian. Coach Jeff Beverly does a great job. The final score looked lopsided, but that was a 5-3 ballgame and they're a much-improved baseball team from what I remember a couple of years ago. The game was much more competitive than the final score would indicate." Johnson County will have its hands full on Monday and Tuesday when it takes on league-leading Unicoi County (6-0, 10-4). "We have the historically good Unicoi County baseball Blue Devils," Perkins said. "We talk about knowing you must play well in conference. Well, that goes without saying when hosting Unicoi County and traveling to Baxter Field. "But we're not gonna run, we're not gonna shrink down from the challenge. We're gonna compete." The 'Horns were to host Unicoi on Monday and travel to Erwin on Tuesday. "It's an opportunity to see where you stack up against them – again, knowing ahead of time it's going to be a great challenge," Perkins said. "But it's also a great opportunity. We like our ball club and we're gonna compete."