Warren East senior Grant Turner had his adaptability put to the test Monday night.

Turner, the Raiders’ self-described utility player, was just coming back from a quick bathroom break in the top of the sixth inning after warming his arm to enter the game at shortstop.

Or so he thought, anyway.

Instead, Turner was sent to the mound to pitch in a tight ballgame with a runner in scoring position and no outs.

Change of plans? No problem. Turner escaped the jam with three straight outs, then pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the victory in the Raiders’ come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Elizabethtown in their season opener at the school’s newly-renovated baseball stadium.

“I’ve always been the utility player,” Turner said. “I might close a few games, but really I could be anywhere. I have no idea. I just kind of fill in where I’m needed.”

Turner wasn’t the only one surprised by his detour to the mound to relieve Raiders starter Clay Wagoner. Warren East head coach Wes Sanford figured Turner was headed to the outfield as part of a defensive shuffle. Raiders pitching coach Eugene Flippin had other ideas.

“I thought we were putting him in at right and we were going to bring our shortstop in to pitch,” Sanford said. “That’s why I told him to go get his arm ready to play the field. Me and Flip haven’t had a chance to talk a whole lot – that’s how crazy this offseason and this whole preseason is – so I didn’t know who our closer was. I found out tonight. He’s pretty good.”

Coming in with a runner on second after Elizabethtown’s Paul Fiepke led off the sixth with a double, Turner kept the Raiders within a run by inducing a shallow fly ball followed by back-to-back strikeouts.

Warren East (1-0) put together the go-ahead rally in the bottom of the sixth. Ryan Hawks started it off with a one-out double off Panthers reliever Coleman Clark, who had trouble throwing strikes on a cold and damp afternoon. Clark issued back-to-back walks to Dakota Basham and Wagoner, then another to Ty Colson to force in the tying run.

One out later with the bases still loaded, Raiders pinch hitter Colson Elkins was hit by a pitch from Elizabethtown’s Logan Greenwell to plate the go-ahead run.

Back on duty for the seventh, Turner got a quick three-pitch strikeout, then deftly handled a wicked comebacker to the mound for a groundout before finishing with another strikeout to earn the victory in his varsity pitching debut.

“I really wasn’t too worried about it,” Turner said. “We had a run on the board, so that kind of made me feel a lot better. I just throw for strikes, and I know my team will back me up.”

Wagoner wasn’t so lucky early, as defensive miscues quickly helped the Panthers plate two first-inning runs.

Warren East center fielder Davion Downey cut that deficit in half in the bottom of the third a two-out solo home run over the right-field fence off Panthers starting pitcher Paul Fiepke.

“I just stayed on it and just drove it,” said Downey, a Baylor signee. “You just focus on the pitch as it’s coming out of his hand and adjust to it then.”

The Raiders then tied the game in the bottom of the fourth by scoring a run off an error.

The Panthers answered with a single run in the fifth when junior catcher Jackson Webb – who has committed to play at Eastern Kentucky – hit a rare Wagoner mistake off the scoreboard in left-center for a solo homer.

Wagoner ended up going 5-plus innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk. The right-hander, who will play at Freed-Hardeman next season, struck out six.

“Clay threw great,” Sanford said. “He gave up seven runs to these guys last year and we wanted to give him the opportunity to come back and throw at them again. If we make a play in the first and we maybe catch a couple balls at the plate, maybe he don’t give up a run at all.”

The Raiders tallied just four hits in the win, but Sanford was still encouraged by consistently good at-bats in the game.

Downey is just glad to have a home field close to home again. The Raiders played their home games last year at Hobson Grove Park as they waited on their new field.

“It feels great. It means a lot that we finally get to get out here on our home field and start putting up numbers now,” Downey said.

Warren East is back in action Tuesday with a 5 p.m. home game against Allen County-Scottsville.

Elizabethtown 200 010 0 – 3 4 1

Warren East 001 102 x – 4 4 1

WP – Turner. LP – Clark.