PIGEON FORGE – For three innings in the first game of the Region 1-2A Tournament West Greene was in a good spot, but the hits never came and walks proved too much to overcome in an 8-0 loss to Pigeon Forge.
“Through three innings things were looking pretty dang good, and then the fourth inning gets away from us,” West Greene coach Adrian Sauceman said. “It was a fight to try and get back in it, and that never materialized. We have to come back refocused. We’re fighting for our lives now.”
The Buffaloes were no hit by Pigeon Forge’s Mycah Effler while only putting two runners on base. Effler struck them out eight times, and only allowed a couple of hard-hit balls in the complete game effort.
“He was mixing his speeds and had a pretty decent curveball. It wasn’t an incredibly fast fastball, but he mixed speeds and mixed spots,” Sauceman said. “We just didn’t have enough competitive at bats, and that certainly didn’t help things. We just couldn’t get guys on.”
West Greene is not done, but the path to the state sectionals is more difficult. The Buffaloes will have to win twice on Saturday, and that begins at 3 PM against Eagleton. Eagleton fell to Unicoi County 6-5 in the other semifinal.
“We have to reset and refocus. We have to come back with energy,” Sauceman said. “We’ll meet up early tomorrow and get a few cuts in before we come over here. We have to come back with a better response.”
Through the first three innings Jayden Cox was in control on the mound for West Greene and faced the minimum, despite allowing two runners to reach base.
In the first inning Cox combined with first baseman Aiden Willett and second baseman Carter Stills to pick off David Price. Then in the second inning catcher Jhonen Bath caught Dalton Cole trying to steal second.
Through that same stretch Effler faced the minimum as well.
West Greene put a runner aboard in the fourth when Bath led off by reaching on an infield error. He never got any further as the Tigers shut down the next three batters.
In the bottom of the fourth Cox lost sight of the strike zone and walked the first three batters of the frame. Collier Helton then grounded out to second to score Jaxon Allen and give Pigeon Forge what proved to be an insurmountable lead.
Next Leff Louttit sent a groundball through the left side that scored two more runs. Cole made it 4-0 when he laid down a sacrifice bunt.
West Greene reached base again in the sixth inning when Carpenter walked, but he was eliminated on an inning-ending double play.
The Tigers plated four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away. Two walks and an error loaded the bases for Branson Headrick who sent a two-run double into left field.
Canon McClure scored on a wild pitch and Colby Boyle put down a sacrifice bunt that pushed the advantage to 8-0.
Cox took the loss for West Greene. He threw 4 1/3 innings in split action with four strikeouts, six walks and three hits allowed. He also set the West Greene single-season strikeout record on Friday with 89.
Bronson Brown threw 1 2/3 innings with one strikeout, no walks and one hit allowed.
