The Greeneville baseball team found itself in a hole early on Friday afternoon and could not dig out of it despite a valiant effort, falling to Science Hill 4-3.
“I liked the way that we hung in and I thought we battled the whole time,” Greeneville coach Andy Collins said. “We battled and we shut them down over the final five innings, but maybe we didn’t come out with the focus we needed.”
The Hill Toppers wasted little time getting started on Friday with leadoff hitter Lucas Dye sending the first delivery of the day through the right side of the infield. It looked as though the Devils might leave Dye stranded, but with two outs and two strikes Aiden Vermillion lined a shot into left field for an RBI single and 1-0 lead.
The Greene Devils were able to even the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning. Carson Quillen led off the side with a four-pitch walk. He stole second and went to third on a ground out. Maddox Bishop then lofted a fly ball into right field to score Quillen on a sacrifice.
The Toppers took control of the game in the second inning by scoring three runs to take a 4-1 lead. Ian Mathes led off with a groundball single and Darren Hill put him on third with a shot to the right-field corner.
Sam Lane then hit a weak ground ball toward third, but Sam Thompson could not get a handle on it in the grass in time to catch Mathes at home. Hill scored on a sacrifice bunt, and Lane came around when Hayden Smelcer put a line drive into left field.
That was all the scoring Science Hill would do on Friday, but it was enough to carry it through the final five innings. The Toppers were held to one hit over the final five innings and went down in order four times.
Greeneville got on the board again in the fourth inning when Bishop led off the side by banging a double off the left-field wall. It was only Greeneville’s second hit of the afternoon. A pair of ground outs moved him around, and the Greene Devils closed the gap to 4-2.
In the fifth inning Thompson got the Devils going with a line drive to left field that bounced past a diving defender for a double. A pair of walks loaded the bases, and pinch runner Jack Lister scored when Carson Norris hit into a fielder’s choice.
The Toppers got out of the inning when the Devils went for the double steal with runners on first and third. Pitcher Cole ReSue faked to second before turning and catching Jeriah Griffin at the plate, eliminating what could have been the tying run.
Greeneville put the tying run aboard again in the seventh inning when Kobe Mundy snuck a single through the right side. It was only Greeneville’s fourth hit of the night. Pinch runner Conner Ireland went to second when Noah Murray put down a sacrifice bunt. ReSue struck out the Devils’ final two batters of the night, leaving the tying run in scoring position.
“I felt there were times tonight we went up there just swinging to swing, instead of approaching our at bats with a purpose and a plan,” Collins said. “But these guys battled to finish and that’s what I take away from today.”
Quillen took the loss on the mound. In three innings he struck out two, walked none and allowed six hits.
Randen Fillers came on in the fourth and threw two innings with no strikeouts, no walks and one hit allowed. Will Harmon tossed the final two innings with two strikeouts, one walk and no hits allowed.
For Science Hill Braeden Brothers earned the win in four innings of work. He walked one, struck out none and allowed two hits. ReSue threw three innings with three strikeouts, two walks and two hits allowed.
At the plate Quillen was 1-for-1 while working two walks. Bishop and Thompson each had a double for the Greene Devils.
Vermillion had two hits for the Hill Toppers while Hill had a double.
