BASEBALL: Warriors' Well tosses 1-hit gem

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on March 23, 2017 9:59 AM

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Tanner Wells has been with Eastern Wayne's varsity team since his freshman year.

He's now one of the senior leaders, and one of the strongest voices in the dugout. If the Warriors were going to break their losing skid, he had to play a main role.

On Wednesday night against Greene Central, the senior pitcher took center stage -- and he certainly deserved an encore.

In effortless fashion, Wells struck out 10 batters, allowed one hit and slammed a two-run homer, helping EW clinch a 6-0 victory over the Rams.

Wells pitched 6 2/3 innings and would've completed the game if it weren't for the pitch-count restriction.

"I had my fastball command early," Wells said. "My arm felt great coming into today. I felt like my arm was live, and I had good movement and good life on my fastball. And my defense gave me a lot of confidence today."

Prior to Wednesday's win, the Warriors had lost their first seven games of the season. Wells did everything he possibly could to make sure that streak didn't reach eight.

Greene Central's first base runner came in the fifth inning when Wells gave up a one-out walk. The next two Rams lined out and struck out, respectively.

In the sixth inning, Wells allowed two more walks. Greene Central's Don Pigford legged out an infield single to load the bases. Showing no signs of nerves, Wells proceeded to force an inning-ending groundball.

"As a coaching staff, we've seen (Wells) continue to put in the work and put it all on the line for Eastern Wayne baseball," said Warriors' head coach Walker Gourley. "And as that becomes more of a collective effort moving forward, things should get better.

"That was a treat to sit back and watch him."

Before Wednesday's gem, Wells hadn't struck out more than five batters in a game. His sixth-inning home run to left field was also the Warriors' first long ball of the season.

Along with Wells, Drew Barnes, Jay Wiseman and Josh Gross delivered one hit apiece. Brothers Jacob and Landon Ginn (RBI) each had two hits.

Though the team has faced much adversity this season, Gourley said the players have showed no signs of complacency. That is partly due to the senior class.

Wells knows he has the experience, and is eager to share his knowledge with his younger teammates. The veteran pitcher taught them how to be winners against GC.

"I just come out here every day and try to be a leader for these guys," Wells said. "We have a really young group...I just come out and try to help these guys play the right way and be good on and off the field. It was huge. It meant a lot to me to get a win for these guys."