The first two games of the district 2-AAA baseball tournament saw the higher seeds take victories and Greeneville, being the number 1 seed, looked to continue the trend. Standing in their way would be the Volunteer Falcons, who had won an earlier play-in game and was primed to advance.
The Falcons got things started in the top of the first when Connor Hayes drew a 2-out walk and scored as Austin Williams drove a double to left, making the score 1-0.
That lead would be short-lived as Maddox Bishop was hit by a pitch and scored on a Carson Quillen triple to tie the game at 1-1. Colton Richards then stepped to the plate and gave the Greene Devils the 2-1 lead by driving in Quillen with a single to center. Kaine Ricker had a productive at bat, grounding out and advancing Richards to second. Will Harmon then doubled to center scoring Richards, making the score 3-1. The final run of the inning came when Noah Murray lifted a sacrifice fly to score Harmon.
Greeneville would extend their advantage to 5-1 in the bottom of the third when Richards tripled to center and scored on a Harmon ground out.
Quillen kept the Falcon hitters off balance throughout the game by consistently throwing strikes and having his defense show some strong and steady play behind him. He scattered two hits through the first five innings and collected 4 strike-outs.
The Falcons looked to put some pressure on the Devils in the sixth. Isaiah Bowery reached on a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error. He would then score, cutting the Devils’ lead to 5-2 as Williams’ ground ball was misplayed. Anthony Blasini came up with a two-out single to bring the tying run to the plate. Quillen, however, would leave them stranded when he got the next batter to ground out ending the rally.
Richards would pace the Greene Devil hitters driving in 2 runs with a triple and single, while Eli House collected 2 singles. Bowery paced the Falcons with 2 singles.
Quillen went the distance on the mound for the win, scattering 5 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 6.
Luke Armstrong was equally impressive in the loss for Volunteer. He scattered 7 hits, walked 2, hit 1, and struck out 4 in the loss.
Greeneville advances to play Cherokee Thursday night at 7:30 in the semi-finals, while Volunteer will square off in an elimination game with Grainger at 5:00.
