If you were to look up the word “DOMINATE” in the dictionary, you might find photos of Carson Quillen and Will Harmon listed as an excerpt. Both of these Greene Devils took to the mound and controlled Union County’s (the defending class 2A state champions) bats by allowing only 1 unearned run on 4 singles, while walking 7 and striking out 15 enroute to the doubleheader sweep and a return trip to the TSSAA class 3A state tournament.
Quillen set the tone for the day with a 6-pitch inning to start the first contest and gave Greeneville the spark it needed as the came to bat.
Maddox Bishop started the bottom half of the inning reaching first when his ground ball was misplayed by the Patriot shortstop. Bishop would then advance to third as the pick-off attempt got away from the first baseman and later score on a Quillen ground out to give Greeneville the 1-0 lead.
Colton Richards followed with a single and Kaine Ricker a double to put two more runners in scoring position, but they would both be left stranded as the Patriot starter avoided any further damage by retiring the next two hitters.
The Greene Devils would send 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second and push 6 runs across the plate on 5 singles to extend the lead to 7-0.
The final run of the game came in the bottom of the third when Corbin Cannon, who reached on a bunt single, stole second, and scored when Quillen laced a two-out double to left, making the score 8-0.
For the rest of the game, Quillen continued to sit down Patriot hitters left and right, and was never really threatened. He would pick up the win in the compete game shut out by surrendering 2 hits, while walking 3 and striking out 9.
Colton Richards and Kaine Ricker led the Devils at the plate with a double and single, while Corbin Cannon assisted with 2 singles.
Needing one more win for a chance to return to the mid-state and try to defend their state title, Greeneville turned to Will Harmon, who was ultimately up to the task, both on the mound and at the plate. He led the Greene Devils’ 13-hit attack with two doubles and a single, while also picking up the win allowing 1 unearned run in 6 2/3 innings of work. He allowed 2 hits while walking 4 and striking out 6.
Greeneville rode the momentum of the first game and scored first to go up 1-0 when Colton Richards singled to drive in Quillen, who had doubled earlier in the inning. They would tack on a second run in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly that scored Derrick Day, who was inserted as a courtesy runner for Harmon, who had doubled to lead off the inning.
Union County scored their first run of the evening in the bottom of the fourth and put some pressure on the Greene Devils as Ty Edds and Kaden Stinnett both walked and advanced on a passed ball. Edds cut the score to 2-1 as he came in to score when Harmon uncorked a pitch in the dirt that Noah Murray was not able to corral.
Things got a little dicey for Harmon in the bottom of the fifth when he gave up back to back one-out singles before closing the inning out with a sacrifice bunt and a pop out.
The Greene Devils put the game away with 3 runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to advance to the state tournament by a score of 8-1. Richards chipped in with a triple and single, while Ricker and Eli House both came in with a pair of singles.
After falling to Science Hill in the regular season finale, the Greene Devils take a 7-game winning streak into the state tournament in Murfreesboro. Play begins on Tuesday afternoon and concludes on the campus of MTSU on Saturday.
