BY DAVID PAINTER
ELIZABETHTON – The Greeneville baseball team took down Unicoi County 9-3 in the first round of the Region 1-3A Tournament on Friday.
The Greene Devils now advance in the winners bracket with a chance to claim the region championship and home field advantage for the state sectionals..
Greeneville jumped in front in the bottom of the first inning when Noah Murray found the gap in right field to score Carson Norris. Then Kobe Mundy doubled with a hard hit ball past the third baseman into left field to score Will Harmon and Jack Lister to push the Greene Devils lead to 3-0.
Mundy went 3-3 with three RBIs.
Munday said of his big day, “I had a great week of practice and the guys helped get me prepared. I felt very confident today.”
In the top of the second, The Blue Devils loaded the bases but Carson Quillen and the Greene Devils would get out of the jam not allowing a run.
In the bottom of the third Mundy laid down a beautiful bunt and Maddox Bishop rushed home to beat the throw by the pitcher. Mundy was safe at first on the play. That pushed the lead to 4-0.
The Blue Devils would not go away quietly and scored three runs in the fourth. Chavez doubled to score two runs to cut the Greeneville lead in half at 4-2. They would then add another run when Bennett doubled on a line drive to left field to close the lead to 4-3.
In the bottom of the sixth Greeneville’s Grayson Crosby laid down a bunt right on the first base line and the Blue Devils waited for the ball to roll foul, but it never did. With little time to make a decision they threw the ball all over the place and Jack Lister made it from first to home and Crosby ended up on third.
Quillen helped his own cause with a deep fly ball to right field that scored Silar Lewis to push the lead to 6-3.
On the mound, Quillen pitched a complete game on 108 pitches and stuck out 12.
Carson Norris would extend the lead to 8-3 with a hit right up the middle to score Kaine Ricker and Quillen.
Will Harmon would add one more run by hitting a ground ball right up the middle to score Norris, making the final score of 9-3.
Greeneville will play at noon on Saturday against Elizabethton with the winner claiming the Region 1-3A championship and home field advantage for the state sectionals. The loser will fall to the region runner up game at 6 p.m.
