BRISTOL - After Saturday's game was postponed for rain, the Greeneville Astros and Bristol White Sox squared off in a doubleheader on Sunday at Boyce Cox Field with the Astros coming away with a two-game sweep.
The Astros won game one 4-1 and shut out the Sox 4-0 in game two.
Greeneville scored their initial run of the first game on a wild pitch following consecutive base hits from Angel Ibanez and Brian Blasik. Then, Terrell Joyce connected on a two-run homer to put the Astros up 3-0 after the top of the first inning.
Bristol got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the first. Courtney Hawkins, the 13th overall pick of the 2012 draft, hit for a double and then scored on an Alex Williams single one batter later.
In the sixth inning, Joyce returned for the Astros and hit his second home run of the night to give the Astros a 4-1 lead that would go on to become the final score.
Frederick Tiburcio (1-2) pitched the complete seven-inning game, gave up one run, struck out nine batters and picked up the win.
It was only the third time the Astros have had a pitcher throw a complete game and the first time since Antonio Noguera in 2007.
In game two, the Astros got off to a quick start again and picked up their second shutout of the season.
The victory also marked Greeneville's 250th all-time win.
Brian Blasik knocked in the first run, in the first inning, on a line drive to center field. Then, Ibanez scored a second run on a Joyce ground out.
In the fourth inning, the Astros got a double from Ernesto Genoves at lead off. Then, D'Andre Toney also doubled to bring Genoves around for a score.
Finally, Greeneville added one more run in the sixth inning. This time, Jean Batista led off with a double and was brought home on a Jimmy Howick single to make the score 4-0.
Greeneville's Chris Lee (1-0) got the win after giving up no runs, no hits and striking out four in his two innings of relief after starter Mike Hauschild left the game.
The Astros will go for the series sweep against the Sox tonight.
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More than five and a half hours after the first pitch, the Greeneville Astros were able to celebrate a 3-2 victory over the Elizabethton Twins Friday night at a rain-soaked Pioneer Park.
Brian Blasik drove home the winning run with a double in the bottom of the 10th to give the Astros the series victory over the Twins.
The game was halted for 2 hours, 51 minutes in the middle of the fourth inning due to a torrential rainstorm, but the grounds crew was able to prepare the field and play resumed just before 11 p.m. During the delay, Astros management delighted the fans by treating them to the scheduled postgame fireworks display. Players from both teams, who were out loosening up before play resumed, stopped their stretching to take in the show with the fans.
Greeneville led 1-0 prior to the delay on an RBI single by Ernesto Genoves, but Elizabethton tied the game in the fifth on an RBI single by Niko Goodrum. The Astros regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a throwing error, which allowed James Howick to score for a 2-1 lead.
The Twins tied the 2-2 game in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI single by Candido Pimentel, but Astros reliever Scott Zuloaga was able to escape a jam by retiring D.J. Hicks on a double-play grounder with runners at first and third.
From there, the pitchers took over as a total of 17 consecutive batters for each team were retired until Hicks walked with two outs in the 10th against Euris Quezada. Travis Harrison was hit by a pitch to move the go-ahead run into scoring position, but Quezada struck out Joshua Hendricks to end the threat.
The Astros won the game in the bottom of the 10th against Twins reliever Kaleb Merck (0-1) when D'Andre Toney singled with one out and scored on a two-out double to left by Blasik.
Quezada (1-1) worked three hitless innings of relief, striking out five, to earn the win for the Astros. Twins reliever D.J. Baxendale had a strong performance in the eighth and ninth, striking out five of the six batters he faced.
A total of 15 Elizabethton batters struck out in the game, with Hendricks going down four times, while 14 Astros were fanned by Twins pitchers.
Francis Ramirez started for Greeneville and worked four innings, allowing just one hit and striking out six, while Twins starter Angel Mata walked four and allowed one hit in three innings prior to the delay.
