GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – In a wild back-and-forth affair at Pioneer Park, it was Beau Ankeney’s (Grand Canyon) walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth that gave the Greeneville Flyboys a 5-4 win over the Bristol State Liners on Monday.
The game started out as a pitcher's duel, with Riley Taylor (Oklahoma State) and Fidel Ulloa (San Joaquin Delta JC) combining for twelve strikeouts and allowing just five hits through the first 4.2 innings of the contest. However, in the bottom of the fifth inning, walks by Will Brown (Florida A&M) and Alex Diaz (Cloud County CC) gave the Flyboys two runners on with one out for Will Taylor (Clemson). The Irmo, S.C., native hit a bloop single to right field scoring both Will Brown and Diaz, giving Greeneville the 2-0 advantage. After reaching third following a passed ball, Taylor came in to score after an RBI single by Ankeney, extending the lead to 3-0.
Greeneville (4-7) swelled the lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth after a Diaz RBI single scored Canyon Brown (NC A&T).
Bristol (3-8) answered in the top of the seventh with their first run of the contest, as a Karson Kennedy (Butler) RBI double scored Sean Smith Jr (Mississippi Gulf Coast JC) to cut the Flyboy advantage to 4-1.
The Liners cut into the lead once more in the top of the eighth with an Eric Erato (NIU) triple, scoring Hector Mangual (Missouri) to split the lead in half to 4-2 in favor of Greeneville. Erato came in to score later in the frame after a Will Spears Jr (Delgado CC) sac fly cut the Greeneville lead to 4-3.
With one out in the top of the ninth, an Ankeney error at third allowed Smith Jr to score following a leadoff single and a stolen base, tying up the game at four runs apiece.
Back-to-back singles by Diaz and Will Taylor started the bottom of the ninth inning for the Flyboys. Aidan Cannaday (Catawba Valley CC) moved the pair over to second and third, and Ankeney came up to bat after Cian Sahler (Fordham) was intentionally walked to load the bases. With a 1-1 count, Ankeney lifted a ball off the right-field wall, scoring Diaz and giving the Flyboys the 5-4 win.
It is the second walk-off win in a week for Greeneville after knocking off Danville in the extra-inning tiebreaker Monday, June 6.
Ankeney finished the game going 2-for-5 with two RBI.
Ryan Schiefer (Grand Canyon) (1-0) earned his first win of the season in his first appearance of the year, going one inning, giving up an unearned run, walking one and striking out a batter. In his longest outing of the season, Riley Taylor went five innings, giving up just three hits, walking one and striking out five. Caswell Smith (College of Charleston) struck out three and walked one in an inning of work. Sam Roberts (Gateway CC) allowed three hits, three runs, walked one and struck out four in two innings.
Drew Rudsinski (Saint Leo) (0-2) was handed the loss, going 0.1 innings, giving up the winning run off three hits and walking one batter. Ulloa went 4.2 innings, allowing three runs off two hits, striking out seven and walking four. Brandon Decker (Oakland) went 1.1 innings, giving up one unearned run off three hits, walking one and striking out three. Chase Hungate (Radford) went two innings in relief, giving up one hit and striking out one.
The Flyboys and State Liners close out their two-game series Tuesday starting at 7 p.m. in Pioneer Park. It’s Two-for-One Tuesday, with select concession items available for two for one dollar. Fans can purchase tickets online at flyboysbaseball.com.
