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SEVIERVILLE—Third-seeded Morristown West knocked off No. 2 Jefferson County, 9-1, in the opening round of the District 2-4A Tournament Wednesday night behind the pitching of Paxton Seal.

Seal tossed a complete-game, three-hitter as the Trojans squared their season’s record at 15-15 and advanced in the winners bracket where they will face host Sevier County tonight at 7:30 with a regional tournament berth at stake for the winner.

The Patriots fell into the losers bracket and will face Morristown East at 5 p.m. in a battle for survival.

Led by the booming bat of Tayshawn Griffin, the Trojans scored in four of the first six inning and were in control all the way after losing three of four to the Patriots during the regular season.

Griffin collected a single, double and triple and also walked and scored a run in the second. Bryson Jenkins chipped in two hits and Riley Short added a double for the Trojans.

Seal walked two and struck out eight in getting the mound decision over Isaac Lawson. Jace Dobbins worked the final three innings for the Patriots who are now 16-12 for the season.

Trojans coach Justin Pickett said, “Paxton set the tone for us and did a great job on the mound. We knew what he was going to come out here and do but still knew we had to play defense and we had to get some runs for him.

“We had a game plan and the guys did a great job of coming out here and executing it,” he added. “This was a huge win for us tonight. We hit the ball well and I thought we were very selective and patient at the plate.

“We also wanted to limit our mistakes and I think we did that. We just found a way to put some runs up here and there and kept adding to it throughout the game.”

Pickett added, “Tayshawn had a good night at the plate and that was nice to see. You know, he’s been hitting it well and tonight he had some fire in his eyes and wanted to be a leader. To see him step up like that, I was really proud of him.”

“Paxton did a good job for them,” said Patriots coach Zack Reese. “He’s got a good arm and we didn’t hit him very well.”

The coach added, “They had too many freebies in that one inning and you just can’t do that in a game like this one.

“We got down and their pitcher got in the zone and we just didn’t do anything offensively and that pretty well tells the story.”

After a scoreless first inning, the Trojans batted around in the second as they took advantage of Lawson’s wildness.

Five walks, an infield single by Jenkins and a sacrifice fly by Charlie Dewald plated three runs and the Patriots never really threatened.

Dewald singled in a run in the third to make it 4-0 before West got a pair in the fourth when Short and Griffin had hits.

The Patriots didn’t have a hit through the first three innings before getting their lone marker in the fourth. Beau Revord walked to lead off the inning before Seal retired the next two batters. Landon Thomas got an infield hit and Brody Carr singled sharply to right to score Revord.

West turned a double play to end the fifth and the Patriots stranded two in the sixth after an error and a walk.

The Trojans scored three times in the top of the sixth. Griffin laced a two-run triple off the wall in center field and then scored on a balk.