Horns reach 16 wins despite injury-riddled season

Injuries and tough losses haven't derailed the Johnson County High School Baseball team this season, and that resilience is hoped to carry over into this week's district tournament. "It is hard to wonder what if because we were not completely healthy for one game of the 2026 regular season," Head Coach Nick Perkins said. "I've never had a ball club that battled this many injuries and ailments of various kinds. But we like our team, I like our chemistry and camaraderie, and we're gonna battle in the postseason." The Longhorns come off a trying week. The team lost Avery Jones to season-ending surgery on April 23. Additionally, third basemen Braxton Bragg missed time. Jones ends his season with a .657 batting average, the top in all of Northeast Tennessee. Behind Jones is teammate Kaden Blevins at .570 At its conference regular season finale at Chuckey-Doak on Tuesday, April 21, the Longhorns went to extras tied 5-5 and put up a run in the top of the eighth, but the Black Knights battled back from their last strike to walk it off 7-6. "Two outs, no one on, two strikes on the batter and not to win the game is very tough," Perkins said. On Thursday, April 23, at local non-conference rival Hampton, the Longhorns had to battle back from an early 4-0 hole to tie it 4-4 after the top of the fifth, but the Bulldogs pushed across what was the winning run in their half of the fifth and won 5-4. Perkins was pleased with four drag bunts that turned into hits at Hampton. "Two tough losses, no way around it, but we didn't want our guys to put their heads down and keep them down," Perkins said. "It's baseball, it's one run losses. We battled, we were right there. Late in the season as we are, we wanna keep them positive. We wanna keep their heads up." The team had reason to pick their heads up on Saturday as the Longhorns' bats took care of Unaka 18-5 in four innings. A planned second game on Saturday was rained out. Brock Jones and Chris Wilson each had three hits on the day, with Jones driving in three runs. Kaden Blevins also got three RBIs and a triple. "It was nice to get a big game one win," Perkins said. The 2026 Three Rivers Baseball Tournament was to begin Tuesday, April 28, as No. 4 Johnson County hosts No. 5 Happy Valley. "We're gonna manage the postseason to make a deep run," Perkins said. "We're not gonna manage it just to win a game." The winner travels to No. 1 Unicoi on Wednesday, the loser goes into the elimination bracket to play Thursday versus West Greene or South Greene at Elizabethton. After Wednesday, the rest of the six-team, double-elimination tournament is at Elizabethton through Saturday or Sunday. The Longhorns' 16-10 regular season tops the 13-11 mark in 2025, Perkins noted.