West Greene and Chuckey-Doak got into a back-and-forth battle on the baseball diamond on Monday evening before one big swing by Gavin Crum decided everything.
Each team held the lead and the game was tied three times, but Crum’s solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted Chuckey-Doak to a 6-5 win in walk-off fashion.
“That’s a fun way to win one. It doesn’t get much better than that. Obviously we would have liked for it not to have to come down to that, but it is never easy beating West Greene,” Chuckey-Doak coach Jacob Willett said.
Crum was hitless going into the last at bat of the night, but he saw a pitch he liked and obliterated it. The long shot sailed out of the park in straight-away centerfield for the first home run of his career and the first home run of the Black Knights’ season.
“Everybody in the dugout told me he had a flat fastball. I was sitting on first-pitch fastball and it was either going or it wasn’t,” Crum said. “It felt absolutely amazing, it was the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life. It just kept carrying and I knew it was gone.”
With the win Chuckey-Doak improves to 6-0 in District 1-2A play while West Greene drops to 2-4.
“We needed this one,” Willett said. “We don’t want to fall behind, and Unicoi is still unbeaten. West Greene is pretty dang good team, and it’s important for us to get these wins to put us in a better spot when the tournament comes around.”
Chuckey-Doak got Monday’s scoring started with a pair of unearned runs in the first inning. With two outs Randall Sauceman walked, and Cooper Seay followed by slamming a double into left field.
Both runs scored when Benjamin Palazzo sent a ball to the right side that was thrown away.
Both teams loaded the bases in the second inning, but both pitchers were able to escape unscathed.
West Greene was able to even the score at 2-2 in the third inning. Jayden Cox led off the side by splitting the right-center gap with a double. He scored when Aiden Willett fired a shot through the left side of the infield.
Another double by Brandon Hunter moved Willett to third. Julian Greenlee sent an awkward spinner down the third-base line that just stayed fair and snuck around the glove of Kiptyn Ball. That allowed Willett to score the tying run.
West Greene went in front 4-2 in the top of the fifth inning. Jhonen Bath was hit by a pitch and Willett put a single into right field. Both runners scored when Hunter slammed a ground ball through the left side of the infield.
Chuckey-Doak was able to tie the score again at 4-4 in the bottom of the same frame. Shane Cook led off the side by skipping a grounder through the right side. Ball was hit by a pitch and Seay knocked in the first run with a hard hit to right field.
Before the next at bat started Seay took off for second on a double steal. That led to Ball getting in a run down between third and home, and he eventually scored on an interference call.
Cook connected again in the sixth inning, splitting the left-center gap with an RBI double that put Chuckey-Doak in front 5-4.
West Greene found an answer in the top of the seventh inning to even the score at 5-5. Bath lofted up a fly ball that dropped out of the reach of two outfielders for a leadoff double. He stole third and then scored when a pickoff attempt got away from the Black Knights.
The bottom of the seventh saw only two pitches, a groundout by Collin Bishop and then Crum’s game-winning home run.
Cook was the top bat on Monday, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Black Knights. Seay was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Crum had a solo home run.
For West Greene Hunter was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Willett was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Cox and Bath each had a double.
On the mound Ball earned the win for Chuckey-Doak. He struck out the only batter he faced.
Crum threw 4 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts, no walks and six hits allowed. Gavin Murray threw 2 1/3 relief innings. He struck out two, walked three and allowed one hit.
For West Greene Cox went 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts, three walks and six hits allowed. Hunter threw one inning with one strike out and one hit allowed.
