Greeneville’s Will Harmon was dominant on the mound and provided all the offense his team would need with one swing of the bat as the Greene Devils opened conference play with a 10-0 win over Grainger.
Greeneville coach Andy Collins spoke about his senior’s performance afterward.
“Will did a great job throwing, obviously, and it was good to start off that way,” Collins said. “He has been big for us, and we hope he continues to be big all year.”
Harmon earned the win by scattering three hits — all singles — while striking out eight and walking none in the five-inning contest.
Greeneville finished with six hits on the night: two singles from Tegan Begley, a home run from Harmon, a double from Colton Smith, and singles from Grayson Crosby and Sam Thompson.
Neither team generated much offense through the first two and a half innings. Grainger went through the lineup without putting a runner on base, while Greeneville managed three walks but left all three stranded.
Begley was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the third. He advanced to third when Crosby delivered the game’s first hit with a single to left. Crosby moved to second when the throw from the outfield got away from the cutoff man.
Harmon broke the scoring drought moments later, driving an 0-1 pitch over the left-field wall to give Greeneville a 3-0 lead.
Thompson followed with a walk but was erased when Maddox Bishop grounded into a fielder’s choice. Bishop then stole second, moved to third on a throwing error, and scored when Kaine Ricker laid down a sacrifice bunt to extend the lead to 4-0.
Grainger’s Carver Turley broke up Greeneville’s no-hit bid with a single in the top of the fourth, but Harmon quickly erased him with a sharp pickoff move. Josh Walker added a two-out single for the Grizzlies and advanced to second after a Greeneville error following Harmon’s second pickoff attempt of the inning.
Greeneville added to its lead in the bottom half of the fourth.
Smith drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jaxon Winter. Begley then recorded his second hit of the game with a sharp grounder to third, and Crosby was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
After Harmon made the second out of the inning, Thompson delivered an RBI single when his grounder pulled the shortstop deep into the hole with no play available. Greeneville then capitalized on a defensive miscue to plate three more runs and extend the lead to 8-0.
Jackson Trent picked up a two-out single for Grainger in the top of the fifth but was left stranded as Harmon recorded his eighth and final strikeout.
Greeneville ended the game in the bottom of the fifth. Smith drove a one-out double to center and Winter drew a walk. Begley followed with an RBI single to score Smith, and Crosby walked to load the bases.
Harmon then ended the contest on a fielder’s choice as Winter beat the throw to the plate, giving Greeneville the 10-0 run-rule victory.
Greeneville, now 5-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play, will travel to Grainger on Tuesday for the second game of the series.
“It’s good to get this one,” Collins said. “It gives us a way to figure out how to pitch a pretty good Grainger team. They’ll be pretty good on the mound tomorrow, and we’ll obviously have to do a better job hitting the baseball.”
