The Greeneville Sun - Print Story

By WAYNE PHILLIPS

Sports Editor

Morristown West broke open a scoreless game with a seven-run uprising in the sixth inning and went on to beat host Greeneville 8-2 Thursday afternoon in an Inter-Mountain Conference baseball game at Dale Alexander Field.

The victory avenged a loss by the Trojans to the Greene Devils on Tuesday night, which was the first league loss of the season for Morristown West. The Trojans are now 7-1 in league play with a two-game series against co-league leader Morristown East next week.

Greeneville saw it's league record even up at 3-3 (8-10 overall), and the Devils have two league series remaining -- vs. Cherokee and Jefferson County.

Thursday's game was a good pitching duel through five innings as Greeneville's Cody Duncan and West's Kevin McDonald locked horns. But West finally unleashed the bats in the sixth, pounding out six hits, and scored seven times with the crunching blow a three-run homer by Matt Harrell that cleared the center field fence at Alexander Field.

Greeneville had dodged some early bullets to keep the game scoreless.

The Trojans made a mess of running the bases in the early going. In the first inning, they got a one-out single from Brandon Boyd and Erik Hazelwood followed with a double. But a perfect relay from the outfield to the cutoff to home nailed the runner at the plate, then Hazelwood was thrown out catcher to third as he tried to advance to third on the throw home.

In fact, the Trojans had base runners aboard in each of the first five innings but couldn't get a rally going.

Meanwhile, West pitcher McDonald was cruising. He had 10 strikeouts on the day, whiffing the first four batters he faced. Cody Duncan drew a walk in the second for the first GHS base runner of the day, but he was retired on a double play.

Trey Jaynes banged one off the wall in center to get Greeneville's first hit of the day in the bottom of the third, but he was left stranded there as McDonald collected three more strikeouts.

Ryan Duncan reached on a one-out double in the fourth, and Thomas Tilson stroked a two-out single to right in the fifth, but neither runner was able to advance.

Boyd started the West rally in the sixth with a single, and Hazelwood walked. McDonald followed with a double that plated the first run of the day, and that seemed to open the floodgates. Adam Epps and Logan Callahan had RBI singles, another run scored on an error, and Harrell polished things off with his three-run dinger.

The Devils closed to 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth as they finally did some damage to McDonald. Justin Merkle led off with a walk and with one out Ryan Duncan's triple brought him home. Duncan scored on Ryan Fillers' infield groundout.

West got one more run in the seventh against GHS reliever Elliott Malone when Logan Welch came up with a two-out RBI single.

Greeneville is scheduled to play at Dobyns-Bennett this afternoon and at South Greene on Saturday at noon.

MW AB R H GHS AB R H

Wild,3b 3 0 0 Merkle,c 2 1 0

Boyd,2b 4 1 2 Bolton,ss 3 0 0

H'wood,c 2 1 1 R.D'can,rf 3 1 2

McD'ald,p 4 1 1 R.Fillers,cf 3 0 0

Raines,rf 4 0 2 D.D'can,p 2 0 0

Epps,ss 4 2 2 Malone,p 0 0 0

Welch,cf 4 1 2 Hall,lf 3 0 0

Cal'han,1b 4 1 2 Jaynes,3b 3 0 1

Harrell,lf 2 1 1 Tilson,1b 3 0 1

Idell,2b 2 0 0

TOTALS 31 8 13 TOTALS 24 2 4

2b Hits: MW-Hazelwood, McDonald, Epps; GHS-R.Duncan, Jaynes. 3b Hits: GHS-R.Duncan. HR: MW-Harrell. WP: McDonald. LP: C.Duncan.

Score by innings:

Morr. West 000 007 1--8 13

Greeneville 000 002 0--2 4

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Rebs Split At Rutledge

RUTLEDGE -- South Greene split a doubleheader at Rutledge on Thursday, pounding out 11 hits en route to a 9-1 win in the opener but falling 6-4 in the second game.

Scott Susong hit two home runs to lead the Rebs' attack in the first game. Chase Bailey also hit one over the fence, and Kameron Keller smacked a double.

Dustin Holland got the pitching win, limiting the Pioneers to three hits.

The Pioneers rallied from four runs back to take the second game.

South Greene had five hits in the contest, led by a double from Brice Cutshaw.

The Rebels (4-12) host Daniel Boone today at 4:30 p.m., then play two at home on Saturday. The Rebels first play Greeneville at noon, then take on Elizabethton at 4 p.m.

Game 1

SG AB R H Rut AB R H

Bailey, 2b 3 2 2 Trent, 2b 3 1 1

Shuffler, lf 3 2 1 W'bstr, 1b 3 0 1

Susong, 3b 3 2 2 Corum, dh 3 0 1

Malone, 1b 3 2 2 Sot'as, ss 0 0 0

A'wood, rf 3 1 2 Blanton, c 2 0 0

Keller, ss 3 0 1 Frost, p 2 0 0

Rogers, cf 3 0 0 Ballard, 3b 2 0 0

v.Blerk, c 3 0 1 Rhodes, cf 2 0 0

Holland, p 3 0 0 Ch'ldrs, rf 2 0 0

Cruze, lf 2 0 0

TOTALS 27 9 11 TOTALS 21 1 3

2b hits: SG - Keller. HR: SG - Susong (2), Bailey. LP: Frost. WP: Holland.

Score by innings:

South Greene 412 20 -- 9 11

Rutledge 100 00 -- 1 3

Game 2

SG AB R H Rut AB R H

Bailey, cf 3 2 2 Trent, 2b 3 1 1

Shuffler, lf 3 0 0 W'bstr, lf 3 1 1

Susong, 3b 2 0 1 Corum, dh 3 1 1

Malone, 1b 2 0 1 Connly, cf 0 0 0

A'wood, rf 2 0 0 Blanker, rf 2 0 1

Keller, ss 2 0 0 Frost, 1b 2 0 0

Bowers, p 2 0 0 Ballard, 3b 2 0 1

v.Blerk, c 2 1 0 Corum, p 2 0 0

C'tshaw, 2b 2 1 1 Cope, c 2 1 1

Sot'as, ss 2 2 0

TOTALS 20 4 5 TOTALS 21 6 6

2b hits: SG - Cutshaw. LP: Bowers. WP: Corum.

Score by innings:

South Greene 103 00 -- 4 5

Rutledge 004 2x -- 6 6

Buffs Top UH

JONESBOROUGH -- Adrian Sauceman pitched a complete game to toss West Greene to a 13-7 victory over University High on Thursday.

Dalton Lamb led the Buffs' attack with six RBIs, including a two-run homer. Lamb was three-for-three with three runs scored. Jordan Davis was four-for-four with three runs scored and a double.

UH led through three innings, but the Buffs blew it open with a five-run third.

West Greene hosts Elizabethton on Monday and Chuckey-Doak on Tuesday.

WG AB R H UH AB R H

Davis, cf 4 3 4 H'kman, lf 3 2 0

S'cman, p 2 2 0Mominee, cf 3 0 2

Ward, c 3 3 2 Loving, c 4 0 1

D.Lamb, 1b 3 3 3 Vickers, dh 4 1 2

McCamey, ph 1 0 0 Fleenor, p 4 1 2

C.Lamb, ss 5 0 2 E'shem, 3b 3 1 0

C'pbell, lf 4 1 0 Noice, 1b 3 1 2

V'brgh, pd 1 0 0 Dison, 2b 2 1 0

McAmis, dh 3 1 0 Hopson, rf 4 0 2

Hopson, rf 4 0 1

Ricker, 2b 4 0 1

TOTALS 34 13 13 TOTALS 30 7 11

2b hits: WG - Davis. UH - Mominee. HR: WG - Lamb. LP: Fleenor. WP: Sauceman.

Score by innings:

West Greene 005 401 3 -- 13 13

Univ. High 122 020 0 -- 7 11

GHS JVs Win

Greeneville and Morristown West's junior varsity teams got together Thursday night following the varsity contest and the Greene Devils came out on top 5-2.

Brock Church, Bryan Everhart and Ethan Jones paced Greeneville's bats with a double each. Collin King picked up the win on the mound going the distance, scattering six hits, and striking out five.

Greeneville is at home this afternoon with a doubleheader against West Greene beginning at 4:00.