ELIZABETHTON – The West Greene baseball team just won’t let its season die..
Facing elimination and trailing 4-2 heading into the seventh and final inning of its season, the Buffaloes used a “never die” mentality and completed their second comeback of the week, defeating Chuckey-Doak 5-4 on Saturday in the District 1-2A Tournament’s losers’ bracket final.
“Just a never die mentality. We got down a couple times and that’s a really good team. We just beat twice in one week and that’s really hard to do. Guys just laid it all out on the line for us,” West Greene Head Coach Adrian Sauceman stated.
The Buffs have only made it to six Region Tournaments in program history and Saturday marked the 5th-straight for Coach Sauceman’s squad.
Coach Sauceman spoke about the importance of another trip to regions. “That’s big for us. That’s something we talked about a lot going into the year. We’ve been to four-straight going into this year and obviously never been done in school history. You bring Unicoi in and everybody says they’re gonna get one of those spots, and they did, which makes it a lot tougher for that other spot. I think a lot of people had another team written in on that and I guess we held up to the measuring stick there.”
There is something sort of magical about West Greene and the District 1-2A Tournament. Whether it’s pulling off two walk-off moments in the same day (2023), or winning the first District Championship in program history (2024), or finding a way to claw back from down two runs with only two outs left in its season (Saturday). West Greene always seems to find a way.
Saturday wasn’t without some special moments. Bronson Brown’s two-RBI single scored the tying and go-ahead runs for West Greene with 2 outs in the seventh. Carter Stills collected three of West Greene’s last five putouts/outs from the third base position. And not to mention Brandon Hunter’s three innings of shutout ball to keep Chuckey-Doak in check.
Sauceman spoke about Hunter’s duty on the mound, “He’s been good for us all year and. I’ve thrown him in some tough spots. If it’s a big spot he’s probably been in it this year and he’s come through. Just competes like all of our guys did today and I couldn’t be prouder of him and the rest of them as well.”
Ethan Carpenter started the day on the bump and threw four innings while only allowing three hits, two earned runs, and one walk.
The Buffs ended Chuckey-Doak’s season for the third time in the past four years. Chuckey-Doak finished the season 18-16. West Greene improved to 16-15 with Saturday’s win.
Although Chuckey-Doak’s season ended on Saturday, senior Lynkin Cutshaw delivered one heck of a performance. Cutshaw went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs, a run, and a double with multiple stops at shortstop.
West Greene’s Bronson Brown had the game-winning hit with 2 RBIs. Jayden Cox went 1-for-4 with 2 runs.
Chuckey-Doak struck first in the bottom of the first. Randall Sauceman singled with two outs and was driven home courtesy of Lynkin Cutshaw’s RBI-double to right field.
West Greene was quick to respond in the top of the second. Aiden Willett was hit by a pitch and was later driven home by Ethan Carpenter’s RBI-single to center.
The score was knotted 1-1 after two.
Both pitchers Gavin Murray (Chuckey-Doak) and Ethan Carpenter (West Greene) kept each other in check and the score was kept at 1-1 until the bottom of the fourth.
The Black Knights took the lead again in the fourth. Lynkin Cutshaw led off the inning with a double and scored on Braxton Lowe’s shot to right field that resulted in an error.
As soon as Chuckey-Doak took a 2-1 lead, West Greene was quick to tie it. Jayden Cox reached on an error with one out and later scored on a balk to tie it 2-2 halfway through the fifth.
But as soon as West Greene tied it, Chuckey-Doak responded and went ahead 4-2. Dominique Atchison reached on an error and Kiptyn Ball walked to board first and second with no outs. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. Randall Sauceman grounded out, but scored Atchison in the process. Lynkin Cutshaw delivered another RBI-hit with a single to score Ball and make it 4-2 at the end of the fifth.
The game remained silent until the seventh inning when West Greene faced their final three outs of the season. Things looked bleak to begin when Jhonen Bath popped out to begin the inning. Jayden Cox and Carter Stills gave West Greene new life with back-to-back singles and Brandon Hunter was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Freshman Julian Greenlee was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and scored Cox from third. Aiden Willett popped up next for the second out.
Bronson Brown stepped to the plate next with a chance to make some magic happen. Brown did major damage with a basic single to right field to score Stills and Hunter to take a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning.
“That hit was huge right there. He’s come up with hits like that two or three times in big spots for us. Not a high-volume hitter but to the right spots and we’ll take those,” Coach Sauceman stated.
Chuckey-Doak attempted to mount a small
comeback effort in the bottom half of the seventh. Kiptyn Ball singled with one out and Randall Sauceman walked with two outs. The Buffs managed to hold on and survive with a fielder’s choice to second that made it in time and ended the game with a final of 5-4.
Unicoi County 10, West Greene 0
After the excitement of the Chuckey-Doak win wore off the Buffs competed in the District 1-2A Championship, but fell short to Unicoi County, 10-0, in the finals.
The Blue Devils held West Greene scoreless, and hitless, and used patience and precision to beat the Buffaloes. Unicoi used five hits, four walks, and three hit by pitches to score all ten runs in only five innings.
West Greene also helped the Blue Devils by committing three errors on defense.
Asher Wainwright threw a five-inning no-hitter for Unicoi County with four strikeouts.
West Greene’s Jayden Cox, Ethan Carpenter, and Jhonen Bath were selected to the District 1-2A All-Tournament Team afterwards.
The Buffaloes will compete in next week’s Region 1-2A Tournament starting next Friday.
