BLUEFIELD, Va. — The Bristol State Liners opened their six-game road trip with a two-game sweep of the Bluefield Ridge Runners on Thursday and Friday, outlasting their Appalachian League rivals in a pair of high-scoring contests.
Game 1: Bristol 9, Bluefield 7 (eight innings)
In a rain-shortened opener Thursday night, Bristol rallied from a six-run deficit to defeat Bluefield, 9-7, in a game called after eight innings due to weather.
The State Liners struck first in the second inning on a Drew Culbertson RBI double, but the Ridge Runners responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning. CJ Oxendine drove in a run with a single, Ben Martin added an RBI groundout, and Jorge Valdes chipped in with an infield single.
Bluefield added four more in the third inning, highlighted by doubles from Bryce Campbell and Ryan Niedzwiedz, and Chris Daniels’ fifth home run of the season. The early outburst chased Bristol starter Miles Smith from the mound and gave Bluefield a 7-1 lead.
Bristol began to claw back with Culbertson’s solo home run in the fourth and a two-run double by Olin Ward in the fifth. The State Liners tied the game and eventually took the lead in the sixth behind a two-run double from Prince Deboskie and Ward’s second hit of the night, which drove in two more.
Deboskie added another RBI in the seventh to extend the lead to 9-7 before the game was halted in the eighth due to rain.
Paulo Noris earned the win in relief, while Charlie Atkinson notched his league-leading sixth save.
Game 2: Bristol 9, Bluefield 4
The State Liners continued their offensive surge Friday, riding another big night at the plate to a 9-4 victory.
Bluefield opened the scoring on Niedzwiedz’s sixth home run of the season, which ranks second in the league.
Bristol answered with four runs in the top of the third, aided by a wild pitch, a two-run double from Patrick Gillen and an RBI single from Hayden Blair.
Gillen added another RBI double in the fifth, followed by a Ridge Runners error that allowed a sixth run to score. Elijah Alexander’s RBI single in the sixth made it 7-1.
Campbell’s fourth home run of the year cut into the deficit in the bottom of the sixth, but Blair responded with his third homer of the season in the eighth.
Bluefield managed two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Niedzwiedz double and Zach Applegate's RBI single, but the rally fell short.
Bristol starter Max Owens was dominant, tossing six innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts. He improved to 2-2 on the year.
Bluefield will remain at home this weekend for a series against Tri-State, while Bristol continues its road trip in Pulaski to face the River Turtles.
