GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – After being down 10-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning, the Greeneville Flyboys scored 18 runs in the next seven frames to come from behind and knock off the Bristol State Liners, 18-15, on Saturday.
Bristol (12-31) struck first in the top of the second after Ryan Taylor (UCF) drew a walk with the bases loaded to bring home Aaron Graeber (RCSJ-Gloucester) to give the Liners a 1-0 lead. An error by Avery Collins (Cleveland State JC) allowed two more State Liners to score, pushing the lead to 3-0. A wild pitch by Roan Tarbert (East Georgia State CC) scored another run as Taylor came across the plate to make it a 4-0 ballgame. Back-to-back two-RBI doubles by Eric Erato (NIU) and Sean Smith Jr (Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) swelled the State Liner lead to 8-0. Graeber recorded his first RBI of the night, an RBI double to bring home Smith Jr., before a sac fly by Brandon Nigh (Oakland) brought home Graeber to push the Bristol bulge to 10-0.
Greeneville (23-22) began to climb back in the bottom of the second after a throwing error by Erato brought home Aidan Cannaday (Catawba Valley CC) to give the Flyboys their first run of the game. With the bases loaded, Shemar Dalton (NC A&T) drew a walk to score Dub Gleed (UC Irvine) before a throwing error by Lorenzo Rios (Presbyterian) allowed Collins to score and make it a 10-3 ballgame. Another bases-loaded walk in the inning scored Andrew Pinkston (Northwestern) to cut the Liner lead to 10-4.
In the top of the third, Graeber recorded his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to give Bristol a 12-4 advantage.
The Flyboys continued to score in the bottom of the third inning after a Pinkston groundout scored Cannaday and then a David Bishop (TCU) sac fly brought home Gleed to cut the run in half to 12-6. Maddox Mihalakis (Arizona) recorded the second hit of the night for the Flyboys, an RBI single to score Pinkston and make it a 12-7 game.
In the bottom of the fourth, a Cannaday RBI-single brought home Jack O’Reilly (Villanova) before a wild pitch by Jeremiah LeBron (RCSJ-Cumberland) scored Gleed and the Flyboys cut the lead to 12-9.
Bristol got a pair of runs back in the top of the fifth after a Smith Jr. RBI-triple scored Blake Wood (FSC at Jacksonville) to extend the lead to 13-9. A Graeber ground out brought Smith Jr. home later in the frame, pushing the advantage to 14-9.
Daugherty brought home Mihalakis in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI-double before an RBI-triple by O’Reilly brought home the Oklahoma State Cowboy and cut the lead down to 14-11. A sac fly by Cannaday scored O’Reilly and all of a sudden, the Flyboys were down just 14-12.
Greeneville tied the game in the bottom of the sixth after a two-RBI triple by Dalton brought home Collins and Pinkston. The Flyboys took their first lead of the night off a sac fly later in the frame by Mihalakis scored Dalton, giving Greeneville a 15-14 lead.
The Flyboys extended the lead in the bottom of the seventh after an RBI-single by Pinkston brought home Collins to give Greeneville the 16-14 advantage.
Bristol cut the lead down to one in the top of the eighth after a Tahir Meulens (Ivy Tech CC) RBI-double brought home Nigh to cut the lead down to 16-15.
The Flyboys earned some much-needed insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth after Bishop scored all the way from second on a passed ball by Rios before a Daugherty sacrifice fly scored Mihalakis to give Greeneville an 18-15 advantage heading to the final inning.
After Smith Jr. reached first after being hit by a pitch with one out, Brian Yetter (Marist) would strike out Graeber and then get Will Spears Jr. (Memphis) to fly out to end the game and the Flyboys win their sixth straight game over the Bristol State Liners this season 18-15.
Every single Flyboy batter scored a run and recorded a hit in the ballgame. Collins went 2-for-2 drawing three walks and scoring three runs. Dalton and Daugherty both went 1-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored, while Mihalakis went 2-for-2 drawing three walks with two RBI and a pair of runs.
Despite the loss, Graeber finished a triple short of the cycle, going 4-for-6 with a home run, three runs scored and four RBI.
Nate Kiser (USC-Salkehatchie) (1-0) earned the win, going six innings, giving up four runs off seven hits, walking three and striking out seven. Yetter earned his first save of the year, going two innings, allowing one run off two hits and striking out two in the final two innings. Tarbert started the game for the Flyboys, going one inning, allowing seven runs (six earned), off three hits while walking four batters. Graham Breite (St. Cloud CC) failed to record an out in the second inning, giving up three runs off three hits.
Semaj Alexander (Charlotte) (0-1) was handed the loss, going one inning, giving up six runs off five hits and walking one batter. Abe Medina (St. Thomas University) started the game, going 1.2 innings, giving up four runs off one hit, walking five and striking out two. Nolan Mason (Daytona State College) went just 0.1 of an inning, giving up three runs and walking four. Gavin Briggs (King) went 1.1 innings, giving up two runs off four hits and walking one batter. LeBron went just 0.2 of an inning, walking a batter. Michael Brewer (ASA College Miami) closed out the game for the Liners, going three innings, giving up three runs, two of those being earned, off three hits, walking two and striking out one.
The Flyboys and State Liners will close out their series Sunday. This will be a seven-inning game with first pitch set for 5:30 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets at flyboysbaseball.com.
