Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Polk County didn’t let Landrum’s three-run first at-bat Tuesday derail its victory hopes.

Gunnar Alm’s efforts at the plate certainly didn’t hurt Wolverine spirits, either.

The Polk County sophomore homered in the first of his two at-bats, helping power the Wolverines to a five-inning 14-4 win at The Bottoms in the first matchup this season between the Thermal Belt rivals.

Alm’s two blasts matched a school record, and he very nearly had a third in the third inning, sending a fly ball to deep left-center within some 10 feet of clearing the fence. Alm finished the night 3-for-4 with three RBI, and his 10 total bases were just one short of Ty Stott’s record of 11 set in 1990.

But there were plenty of other outstanding efforts in the Wolverine lineup. Alex Perry earned the win, scattering four hits and allowing just one earned run in four innings. Perry also aided his cause with a 1-for-1, two-RBI effort at the plate.

Lawson Carter had two hits, two steals and two RBI and pitched a perfect inning to close the game. Karson Scruggs also had two hits and two RBI. Cohen Edwards drove in a pair of runs. Matt Jarrett had a single, scored two runs and helped turn a game-ending double play.

“Defensively, we had two little miscues. We’re probably going to make those 100 percent of the time from now on,” said Polk County head coach Billy Alm as the Wolverines improved to 2-0. “But as far as all the other things we see on the field, we love what we see.

“The bats came alive tonight, and that was a big thing. Gunnar sets the tone with a leadoff home run, then follows it up with another one to take the lead and we didn’t look back. That’s what we can do.”

Landrum (4-2) scored its three first-inning runs with two outs on base hits by Nolan Collins and Hunter Craig, two Polk errors helping prolong the inning. Alm launched his first homer in the bottom of the first, a drive to center field, and Polk added another run on a bases-loaded walk to Perry to make it 3-2.

Jarrett singled to open the second inning before Alm connected again, sending a soaring fly ball to right field to give the Wolverines a 4-3 lead. Noah Harden followed with a single, Mason Beiler drew a one-out walk and Scruggs slapped a single to left to drive in Harden. Perry drew a walk to load the bases, and Edwards was hit by a pitch to force in Beiler. Jarrett then earned a walk to score Scruggs and make it 7-3 before Alm’s deep fly to left brought Polk’s crowd to its feet before ending the inning.

Sawyer Smith tripled and scored on a Collins’ single in the top of the third, but Polk answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, including a double steal with Carter taking home. A hit batter and walk sandwiched around an Alm double in the fourth preceded Carter’s two-run double, and two more bases-loaded walks closed the scoring for Polk.

In addition to 10 hits, Polk batters drew 11 walks and had four hit batters.

The Wolverines are scheduled to return to action on Thursday, traveling to East Henderson.

“I love what I see so far,” Billy Alm said. “I’ve got 10 guys that work their tail off. We’ll pull up some jayvees sporadically to add a couple of numbers to the bench.

“The bats are always behind the pitchers, and our bats are going to start to come alive. I’m looking forward to it.”