BRISTOL, Va. – The Greeneville Flyboys saw their last 16 batters retired as they suffered their third straight loss, falling to the Bristol State Liners, 3-0, on Saturday.
Jack Tomlinson (San Joaquin Delta CC) was the first batter to reach for Bristol, recording a two-out single in the bottom of the first and advancing to second on a stolen base. A strikeout by Brian Yetter (Marist) ended the early Liner threat.
Manny Garza (Rice) recorded a one-out single for the State Liners in the bottom of the second inning. He was thrown out at first after a pop-out double play by Brock Daniels (Oklahoma) and Beau Ankeney (Grand Canyon), keeping the contest scoreless.
Will Brown (Florida A&M) and Canyon Brown (North Carolina A&T) recorded a pair of singles in the top of the third for Greeneville, but a strikeout by Cohen Feser (TCU) and a flyout stranded the two on the basepaths.
After reaching first on a walk, Will Spears Jr. (Arkansas-Little Rock) reached third base for Bristol in the bottom of the third inning. He was stranded after a diving catch by Aidan Cannaday (Queens (N.C.)) in the outfield.
Will Taylor (Clemson) started off the top of the fourth for the Flyboys with a leadoff double but was gunned down on a throw from the outfield by Chyran Cruse (St. Charles CC) to shortstop Hector Mangual (Missouri) to Spears Jr. at third. Cannaday recorded a two-out single in the top of the fourth and was stranded there. Cannaday was the last baserunner for the Flyboys for the rest of the game.
The State Liners (2-1) took the lead in the bottom of the fourth frame. Back-to-back two-out singles by Jeremy Garcia (Bethune-Cookman) and Garza scored Ryan Gilmore (Radford) and Garcia to give Bristol a 2-0 lead.
Bristol added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth. After reaching on a leadoff single, Mangual stole second and then came into score on a Tomlinson RBI single to extend the Liner lead to 3-0.
Both teams went cold on offense for the rest of the game, with Bristol failing to have a baserunner reach for the next eight batters until Gilmore reached on a one-out walk in the bottom of the eighth.
Ray Berry (King) closed out the game for the State Liners, earning his first save of the season, going two innings while striking out a pair. Feser earned his first win of the year after going five innings, giving up four hits and striking out one. His Horned Frog teammate Trip Banta (TCU) came in for two innings of relief work, striking out four batters.
Yetter earns the loss for the Flyboys (3-0) after going four innings, giving up five hits and two runs while walking one batter and striking out three. Tyler Blakenship (Yuba College) made his first appearance for the Flyboys this season, going one inning, giving up two hits and one run, striking out one Liner batter and walking another. Nate Kiser (USC-Salkehatchie) needed just 16 pitches to go two innings, keeping Bristol off the board and striking out a batter. Caswell Smith (College of Charleston) closed out the contest for the Flyboys, striking out a pair and walking a batter in an inning of work.
Both Tomlinson and Garcia went 2-for-4 for the State Liners with an RBI. Garcia also scored a run.
The Flyboys and the State Liners meet Sunday to close out their two-game series. The contest will be a seven-inning affair beginning at 6 p.m. Fans can tune into the action on the Flyboys Broadcasting Network, with the pregame show kicking off the action at 5:45 p.m. at flyboysbaseball.com.
