Wells returns, leads Hilltoppers back into region championship game

DANDRIDGE — Caden Wells' senior baseball season is alive and well. Masked up or not, he's gone from orbital surgery to pitching Science Hill into the Region 1-4A championship game. Wells gave the Hilltoppers another solid outing in his first start since the injury, and Science Hill responded with a 4-1 victory over William Blount in Friday's Region 1-4A semifinal at Jefferson County. Throwing 84 pitches over 5 2/3 innings, Wells struck out 12 batters and scattered five hits while walking none. He allowed only three hits after falling behind 1-0 in the second inning. "It was tough to come back after three weeks of not throwing at all to this," Wells admitted. "I'm just grateful. It was hard, but whenever you're amped up like that, you can get somewhere." And get somewhere he did. While he did pitch 1 1/3 innings on senior night — April 24 — before surgery, he hadn't thrown since. But he commanded his fastball just like he'd done many times before Friday night, 64 of his pitches resulting in strikes. Not bad for someone who once thought he might not play high school baseball again before he heads off to Tusculum. "I fouled a ball off and shattered my orbital (at Morristown West on April 20). It was a 30-minute surgery but turned into three hours because of how much was actually damaged," Wells recalled. "Coming back just a week after is pretty hard settling in with soreness and stuff, but I felt like I prepared well for tonight." Darren Hill began a fourth-inning rally for Science Hill (28-14) with a one-out single. He was out at second on a fielder's choice, but Max Brian and Anderson Craft both got on base and stole their ways into scoring position. Brian stole home for the tying run with two outs, and Craft gave Science Hill a 2-1 lead on Bryson Carver's RBI single up the middle. "Max, he and Coach (Corey) Moser, they're in tune with it," Science Hill coach Ryan Edwards said. "It caught them by surprise. We're down 1-0 and it's tough to drive in runs, so for him to grab that run was huge." Carver, Owen Lewis and Aiden Vermillion knocked three straight base hits in the bottom of the sixth, Vermillion's single scoring Carver before Lewis plated on an error at third. Vermillion went 3-for-3 from the nine-hole, and Carver hit 2-for-3. Nate Stoots singled to round out the Hilltoppers' eight hits. Cole ReSue needed just 19 pitches over the last 1 1/3 innings to close it out, striking out three of the four batters he faced in the seventh. Nate Ownby gave William Blount (21-18) the lead in the second, reaching on an error to start the frame and scoring on Gavin Wilson's groundout. Tyson Moncivaiz doubled for one of the Governors' five hits. Drew Campbell went the distance and struck out two batters while walking two. DELAYED START Both teams had to wait an extra 1 hour, 45 minutes to play baseball with Dobyns-Bennett and Jefferson County playing 13 innings. But it's not the first time Science Hill has experienced that in 2026. "We were in Murfreesboro and we didn't get started until 10:30, and the next morning we had to turn around and play at 10 after we didn't get in the beds until 2 in the morning," Edwards said. "It is what it is. I feel like the guys are more rested coming into this region tournament. They're going to be fine. They're resilient." UP NEXT Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett square off for the Region 1-4A title at noon. The loser plays for second place at 6 p.m. against the winner of Jefferson County-William Blount.