The Greeneville baseball team was pushed to the brink, and beyond, on Wednesday night, but after a marathon night at Tusculum University the Greene Devils were able to secure their third straight trip to the Class 3A State Tournament.
The Class 3A State Sectional series with Seymour started with an 11-inning battle that Greeneville won 10-9. Game two went a little smoother and the Devils came away with a 6-1 win that sends them to Murfreesboro next week.
“Tonight was fun, and I’m just super proud of our kids. They battled tonight,” Greeneville coach Andy Collins said. “We’re cramping up, we’re fighting, we got here at 2:30 and we’re leaving after 11:30. You work as hard as you can, and at the end of the day working as hard as you can should be enough. I could be satisfied with that. But to actually get this reward at the end is great.”
Greeneville will start the Class 3A State Tournament on Tuesday May, 20 at 4 p.m. at Smyrna High School against South Gibson.
GAME 1
GREENEVILLE 10, SEYMOUR 9 (11 Innings)
Wednesday started with Greeneville and Seymour matching each other blow for blow, before defense took over in extra innings. The Greene Devils found one more string of good at bats in the 11th inning to capture a 10-9 win.
“I loved that game,” Collins said. “We talk abut having intensity on every single pitch and I think a lot of our guys were engaged on every single pitch tonight. That says a lot about them, and that gives us energy when things are getting tough. When you win games like this it’s a total team effort.”
Seymour briefly took the lead in the top of the 11th inning when Reece Williams sent a run-scoring double into left field.
With their backs against the wall Greeneville sent the right guy to the plate to get the rally going. Carson Quillen was 4-for-5 in the contest and reached base six times. His final hit came in the 11th when he ripped a groundball though the right side for a single.
“Whether they don’t want to pitch to him, or he’s hitting 105 exit velocity, that is a perfect leadoff guy. He has worked so hard over the last four years. For me, I haven’t seen another guy in the state that’s as good as him,” Collins said.
Carson Norris and Maddox Bishop both worked walks to load the bases. A wild pitch bounced to the backstop and Quillen darted home to tie things at 9-9.
With first base open the Eagles chose to walk Will Harmon. With two out Kobe Mundy walked it off with a ground ball to the third baseman. Courtesy runner Jack Lister was able to beat the throw to second which allowed Bishop’s game-winning run to count.
“That game was crazy. Every pitch mattered, we were living and dying on every pitch,” Quillen said. “We did a really good job of staying focused. We came back to the dugout down one knowing that we had to fight and battle. Being able to pull that out felt great.”
Wednesday started with Greeneville falling into a 3-0 hole with all three runs crossing unearned.
The Devils’ offense was clicking in the bottom of the first inning with Quillen, Norris, Bishop and Harmon all reaching on consecutive singles that evened the score at 3-3.
The Eagles went in front 4-3 in the second when Drew Childress roped a line drive down the left-field line to score Andrew Baird from first.
The Devils moved back in front in the fourth frame when Harmon blasted a three-run home run over the right-field wall. In the contest Harmon was 4-for-5 with a home run, double and six RBIs. He was also intentionally walked twice.
“Oh my gosh, Will was great. The home run was unbelievable, and the ball he hit to centerfield would be out in most places. I kind of got mad at the end when they were walking him,” Collins said.
Seymour tied the game again with a three-run fifth inning. The Eagles could have gone in front, but Corbin Johnson was called out after not touching home plate.
Harmon struck again in the bottom of the fifth when he launched a double deep into centerfield that scored Jeriah Griffin and Quillen for an 8-6 lead.
Seymour’s Coby Johnson evened the score again in the sixth inning when he sent a two-run triple deep into right field.
Randen Fillers took over on the mound for Greeneville in the seventh inning and was tough to the finish. In five relief innings he struck out two, walked three and allowed three hits. His defense made the plays behind him and shut down the Eagles in four consecutive frames.
“Randen did a fantastic job of coming in and throwing up a few zeros when we had to have them,” Collins said.
Quillen started the game for Greeneville and threw five innings. He struck out five, walked two and allowed eight hits.
As a team Greeneville earned 15 hits and walked 14 times. In addition to Quillen and Harmon’s four-hit games, Mundy had three hits and Bishop had two hits.
Seymour had 14 hits in the loss.
GAME 2
GREENEVILLE 6, SEYMOUR 1
In game two Seymour started strong, but Greeneville eventually proved to be too much to handle on the way to collecting a 6-1 win that cliched its trip to Murfreesboro.
“It feels awesome to be going to state. I’m happy for the team. I’m happy for these guys. It was an absolute battle tonight and I’m just excited for our team,” Quillen said after the win.
On the mound Norris went the distance and got better as the game went on. He gave up two hits and the Eagles’ lone run in the first inning. He finished the night with four strikeouts, two walks and three hits allowed. Norris needed just 78 pitches to get through all seven innings.
“Carson was working his slider. He was out of the zone and in the zone, and I think that mixture was a good match against them,” Collins said. “It’s great to know that we are six deep on the mound. With Norris doing that tonight it gives us that much more confidence going forward.”
After falling behind 1-0 Greeneville took control of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Bishop led off the side by sending a groundball straight up the middle. Mundy evened the score at 1-1 when he faked a bunt to draw the infield in and then fired a single by them into shallow centerfield.
Kaine Ricker scored two more when he sent a line drive into the left-center gap, and Jeriah Griffin pushed across another by dropping a single over the shortstop.
The Greene Devils got some insurance in the fifth frame when Harmon snuck a line drive over the third baseman to score Norris from second.
Quillen led off the seventh with a double and scored on groundout to set the final score at 6-1.
Griffin led the bats by going 2-for-4. Harmon and Ricker each had two RBIs and Quillen had a double.
