The Buddy Hawk Classic finally got underway after two days of wash outs, and the visiting Coalfield Yellow Jackets picked up a pair of wins over the hosting West Greene Buffaloes and county counterpart Chuckey-Doak Black Knights on Saturday.
Hal “Buddy” Pruitt was the host site for Saturday’s games at West Greene High School. Two days of rain and cancellations led to only one day of action in this year’s edition of The Greene Fling. West Greene, Chuckey-Doak, and Coalfield all shared the field for Saturday’s day of fun.
The Yellow Jackets walked into today as the No. 2 ranked team within the state of Tennessee in Class 1A. They outscored both county opponents 15-2 in the pair of contests. They defeated West Greene 5-2 and Chuckey-Doak 10-0 in six innings.
“They are really good. They went to State two years ago and got knocked out in the Region last year and I expect them to go back to State this year in single A. They are well-coached and I thought we hung with them the whole game. Maybe two or three situations that came up that they executed and we didn’t and that was really the difference in the game,” West Greene coach Adrian Sauceman said.
“That’s a good baseball team. I don’t feel like they are any better than us defensively or on the mound. I think they threw better arms. They just hit the baseball and we didn’t, simple as that,” Chuckey-Doak coach Jacob Willett stated.
West Greene hung around and played a very competitive game with the margin staying within one to two runs for the first five innings. The Buffs pitching staff did allow eight hits and seven walks, but made the right plays when needed and held them to only five runs.
Coalfield started with three of their first four batters reaching base on balls. Levi Heidel scored on a wild pitch and Knox Pemberton hit a sacrifice fly that scored Luke Treece. The Buffs manage to make it out of the opening frame only down 0-2.
Conner Campbell laid down a single to right field on the first pitch he saw and scored on Jhonen Bath’s sacrifice fly. West Greene loaded the bases, but only scored one run and trailed 2-1 after the first.
“We gave up those two runs and it was really good to come back and add one in the bottom half, Sauceman stated.
Coalfield loaded the bases with no outs to start the second and scored their only run of the inning through Heidel’s RBI-single. Waylon Burgess scored to help adjust the score to 3-1. Campbell completed an unassisted double play at first base to collect two outs and a pop up to foul territory ended the inning.
West Greene put two aboard with Bronson Brown’s single and an error committed on Campbell’s at bat, but couldn’t manage to score in the frame.
The third inning saw no action with no hits or runs scored. Coalfield once again loaded the bases with only one out in the top of the fourth, but a 6-3 double play ended the inning and the Buffs escaped a jam.
Braden McCamey started the game and was relieved by Jayden Cox at the beginning of the fourth. McCamey finished with three hits and three earned runs in three innings. Cox allowed three hits, one earned run, and collected six strikeouts in three innings of relief.
“Braden was a little rocky at the start for what he usually is, but Jayden came in and mainly threw really well,” Sauceman expressed.
Brandon Hunter doubled to begin the bottom half of the fourth and Jake Greene was hit by a pitch to board two runners with no outs. A strikeout and untimely double play killed their chances of scoring any runs.
“We had runners on first and second with no outs and we couldn’t get those guys in. Little stuff like that adds up. They just out executed us in a couple of different areas,” Sauceman explained.
Coalfield broke their slump and scored with two outs in the fifth. Luke Treece sent a solo home run over the center field fence to tack on another Yellow Jacket run and extended the lead to 4-1.
Knox Pemberton scored their last run in the seventh. He singled to lead off the inning and stole second to move into scoring position. Kaleb Langley hit a tightrope down the third-base line to score Pemberton and made it 5-1.
The Buffs threatened a comeback facing their last three outs, but only managed one run. Jake Greene was hit by another pitch and Bronson Brown reached on a throwing error that advanced both runners to second and third with no outs. Ethan Carpenter found his favorite spot in shallow right field for an RBI-single to score courtesy runner Luke Heck.
“Big hit from Carp. He’s kind of been wearing that hole out a little bit on the right side. Just not trying to do too much and just going with it. He’s been really good as a hitter when he’s been doing that,” Coach Sauceman mentioned.
The score was cut to 5-2, but Brown was tagged out at the plate and served as the first out. The Buffs would record two-straight outs to end the game.
West Greene finished with four hits and zero errors. Conner Campbell, Brandon Hunter, Bronson Brown, and Ethan Carpenter collected one hit each. Jhonen Bath and Ethan Carpenter had the only RBI’s.
The Buffs dropped to 14-5 after the loss.
“I’m proud of the guys and the way we competed against a good team,” Sauceman said.
Coalfield 10, Chuckey-Doak 0
After a short intermission, Coalfield took the field against the Chuckey-Doak Black Knights and defeated them 10-0 in six innings.
The game sat scoreless for two innings before the Yellow Jackets finally cracked the game open with a run in the third. Levi Heidel scored on a passed ball and gave them a 1-0 lead after three.
Coalfield really cracked it open in the fourth with a five-spot to take a 6-0 lead. A double from Jordan Steinhauer and a single from Knox Pemberton put runners aboard first and second with no outs. Kaleb Langley hit into a sac fly to score Steinhauer. Bo Wilson cleared the bases with a 2-RBI double next. Levi Heidel drove Wilson home with an RBI-single. Luke Treece delivered an RBI-double to finish the inning off. The last four runs were all scored with two outs.
Steinhauer launched a solo home run to left field for the lone run of the fifth inning. Coalfield went ahead 7-0.
They did more damage in the top of the sixth with four more runs. Wilson was hit by a pitch and Heidel singled with no outs. Luke Treece cleared the bases with another Coalfield 2-RBI double. Jackson Treece followed with a sacrifice fly to drive home the final run.
Chuckey-Doak was left with only three hits from Jake Hinkle, Kipton Ball, and Randall Sauceman.
“I feel like we should’ve competed in this game. If we play them ten times, I feel like we should win five of them. But today, they hammered us. They came out hot and hit the baseball and we didn’t,” Coach Willett stated.
Chuckey-Doak’s record fell to 11-8 after the loss.
Union County 8, North Greene 6
The North Greene baseball team let the lead slip away late on Saturday evening in the Buddy Hawk Classic at Cherokee High School, and fell 8-6 to Union County.
The Patriots put up five runs in the seventh inning to take an 8-4 lead. Union took advantage of three walks and two errors to go along with a single to along with one single.
The Huskies pushed across two runs in the bottom of the frame,but could not complete the comeback.
North Greene earned seven hits on Saturday. Isaac Gaby was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Owen Pierce had a double and two RBIs. Jake Duffy, Brady Malone, Christian Cogdill, and Jaiden Bailley all had singles.
On the mound Malone threw four innings with no strike outs, three walks, and two hits allowed. Duffy threw two innings with one strikeout, three walks and three hits allowed. Britton threw one inning with one walk and one hit allowed.
