Warren East baseball coach Wes Sanford has gotten to know his seniors extremely well over years of coaching this particular crop of Raiders.

That’s helpful, of course – but on the flip side, those same seniors are just as familiar with Sanford and have devised various ways of driving him to distraction when it suits them.

“I’ve really enjoyed this group of kids,” Sanford said after the Raiders’ 5-1 home win over Allen County-Scottsville on senior day. “I’ve had them for a long time, and they know me and understand me. They know how to push my buttons a lot, too.”

The Raiders, led by that senior contingent, pushed all the right buttons – on the field, this time – to battle past the Patriots for a win and start building some momentum before next week’s District 14 matchup against Bowling Green.

Warren East senior Ty Stringfield went 3-for-3 at the plate and had a nice diving catch in center field, and fellow senior Dakota Basham stroked a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to help the Raiders avenge last week’s 3-2 loss to Allen County-Scottsville (11-9).

It was a strong start to a challenging week for Warren East (13-15), which still faces matchups against Barren County, Logan County and Owensboro this week before next Tuesday’s make-or-break district semifinal matchup against Bowling Green at South Warren High School.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of games where we’ve taken breaks,” Sanford said. “I think all of our games have been pretty tough. Allen County’s really good. I’m really impressed with them. They can swing it really well. Both arms they’ve thrown against us were really good.”

The Raiders had to feel good with junior ace Ryan Hawks on the mound for Monday’s rematch with the Patriots. But the University of Louisville commit wasn’t at his best, and it showed early as ACS put together a three-hit inning in the third capped by Sheldon Peay’s RBI single that put his team up 1-0.

Warren East got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Catcher Colson Elkins got a two-out single off Peay, then courtesy runner Nolan Ford took second on a missed catch at first on a pickoff attempt. Ford moved up another base on a wild pitch, then came home and slid under the tag when Peay uncorked another wild throw that hit the brick wall behind home plate and rolled directly back toward ACS catcher Owen Stamper.

The Raiders went up 2-1 in the fourth when courtesy runner Morgan Phelps scored from third on Andrew McWhorter’s well-placed safety squeeze bunt, then added to the lead in the fifth when Ford scored from third on a throwing error off a double-play attempt.

In the sixth, Basham unloaded on a first-pitch fastball from the right-hander Peay for his third home run of the season.

“I’m usually sitting dead-red fastball and hopefully they give me a nice one on the first pitch, and if they don’t I just take it away,” Basham said. “I try to be more selective on the first pitch.”

Hawks, who allowed seven hits, settled down to toss a complete game and earn the win. He struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter.

Stringfield paced the Raiders with three hits and Basham added two hits.

“We played a real good game against them last week, but they got us,” Stringfield said. “Tonight we came out and I think we played better and we got them this time.”

Brett Rippy had two hits to lead ACS, which hosts Greenwood at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Warren East hosts Barren County at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

ACS 001 000 0 – 1 7 3

Warren East 001 112 x – 5 7 2

WP – Hawks. LP – Peay.{&end}