The Elizabethton River Riders fell to the Pulaski River Turtles on Friday in the series finale, 4-2.
Jayden Lobliner (San Diego) led the offense with two hits and one run scored.
Elizabethton (14-24) jumped out to an early lead against Pulaski (19-18) after Kade Huff (Grand Canyon) singled in the second. Huff finished the night with one hit, one RBI and one walk.
The River Riders added on in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Cole Torbett (Middle Tennessee) to score Cadyn Karl (Kansas State). Torbett finished the night with one hit and one RBI.
Pulaski cut into the deficit in their half of the sixth on an Alec DeMartino (UNC Wilmington) home run to right field. DeMartino finished the night with a home run and a walk going 1-for-3.
Pulaski pulled ahead for good in the seventh, striking for three more runs. Conor Cooke (Brown) hit his first double of the season to score two and Kevin Jones (UNC Wilmington) reached on an error to score Cooke. Cooke finished the night with one hit, two RBIs and one run scored while Jones finished 0-for-4.
The River Riders got the tying run to second in the ninth inning but could not score.
Dane Bjorn (Tennessee) was tabbed with the loss for the River Riders. He pitched two innings in relief, allowed two hits, two earned runs, two walks and struck out two. The River Riders also got three innings from Sam Novotny (Johnson County Community College) and two innings from Jacob Pointer (Roane State Community College). Caden Carroll (Kennesaw State) started for Elizabethton. He struck out two in one inning of work. Novotny was given credit for a hold and Bjorn was also hit with a blown save.
Hunter Howard (Radford) got the win for Pulaski. He pitched two innings in relief, allowed two hits, one run, one walk and struck out two. The River Turtles also got two innings out of Casey Proctor (Bryant & Stratton College), two-thirds of an inning from Parker Lewin (Minnesota) and one and one-third innings from Max Martin (UC Irvine). Juan Reyes (Kirkwood Community College) started for Pulaski. He allowed two hits, one run, two walks and struck out two over three innings. Lewin was given credit for a hold and Martin recorded his third save of the season.
Elizabethton finished with six hits and one error. Pulaski finished with five hits and one error.
The River Riders come back home to Northeast Community Credit Union Ballpark on Saturday to open another series against the Johnson City Doughboys. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m.
