Caldwell County edged Christian County 2-1 in a swiftly-played baseball game in Princeton on Monday.
Luke Parker drove in the game-winning run with a two-out single to center in the bottom of the sixth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie.
That made a winner of sophomore left-hander Ari Wells, who turned in a sterling complete-game performance on the mound. Wells (2-1) struck out 12, walked just one and allowed just two base hits.
It took Wells just 92 pitches to claim the victory.
The only run Wells gave up came when the Colonels’ Blake Boehman connected for a solo home run to left-center with one out in the top of the fourth inning.
But Wells retired the final 11 batters he faced after surrendering the homer — eight by strikeout.
Caldwell (16-4), which had dropped its last two outings, got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning against Christian.
Whittington and David Ginn had back-to-back singles with one out. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Parker singled in to left field to drive in Whittington to put the Tigers up 1-0.
Christian (13-11) tied things on the homer in the fourth.
But Caldwell scratched out an unearned run in the sixth to win it.
Whittington reached on an error with one out. A pop-up to third was the second out, but then Scott Cortner kept the inning alive when he singled into left.
Parker followed that with his hit into center, driving in his second run of the day and putting the Tigers in front to stay.
Parker finished 2-for-4 at the plate with both RBIs. Whittington was 2-for-3 and scored both runs. Wells was 3-for-3.
Westin King, Ginn and Cortner each had singles for Caldwell, which outhit Christian 10-2.
For the Colonels, Boehman homered and Greg Montes singled.
Freshman right-hander Nolan Young (2-2) had a solid day on the mound for Christian but suffered the loss. He allowed just one earned run on 10 hits while striking out five and walking only one in six innings.
The game took just over an hour and a half to complete.
It was the first meeting between the two schools since the semifinals of the 2022 2nd Region tournament. The Colonels won that day and lead the all-time series 49-19.
The Tigers will next go to Todd County Central on Tuesday.
Christian is scheduled to play again Friday when it hosts 8th District rival Hopkinsville.
