JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Johnson City Doughboys could not be denied in front of 5,012 fans against the Greeneville Flyboys, walking it off after seven innings to secure a playoff bid.

Ronny Matti, a hometown kid from Johnson City, stepped up to the plate for his first at-bat with his former high school teammate Nate Eisfelder representing the winning run 90 feet away. Matti, in an 0-2 count, drilled the walk-off knock to left to walk things off, greeted by his entire team at first base.

From the very beginning, the Doughboys took control with another dominant start from Jayce Rollins. The towering righty, and the former Appalachian League Pitcher of the Week, kept Greeneville scoreless through six frames and struck out seven batters.

The offense behind him? Electric.

Patrick Walsh launched a solo homer to the opposite field in left to open up the scoring in the second. In the fifth, Jackson Geiger jump-started his incredible finale with an RBI triple, sending the home crowd into a frenzy and making it 2-0.

Then, in the sixth, the Johnson City offense came fully alive with six runs on three hits, 12 total at-bats, three walks and two hit-by-pitches. Anthony Temesvary reached on a groundball single to start things off, then two wild pitches moved him to third.

Gabe Tanous and Kenyon Hughes Jr. both stayed patient to draw walks to load the bases; Eli Thurmond brought in one after getting hit by a pitch to bring up Eisfelder.

The home run king of the Appalachian League and sole owner of the Doughboys' single-season record drove all of them in with a towering grand slam for his second bases-clearing slam of the summer. "Ice" now has nine homers in 16 games, marking him as a lethal bat in the playoffs.

But the inning was far from over. Geiger notched another extra-base hit on his 10th double of the season, followed by a Blake Herrell walk and Walsh getting hit by a pitch to load the bases once again. A wild pitch brought Geiger in from third to mark the 8-0 lead.

However, Greeneville responded with its first run of the game when Bryson Boyd pinch-hit and drilled an RBI double. The Doughboys were three runs away from a mercy-rule win in the finale of the regular season.

In that final frame, Hughes Jr. lined a single to right, with Thurmond and Eisfelder reaching on a walk. Geiger drove one in with an RBI sacrifice fly, but a throwing error from the Flyboys infield brought two in on the play.

Herrell and Walsh both walked again, bringing the pinch hitter Matti to the dish with a chance to walk things off. Matti won the game for his hometown team to mark the 11-1 dominant victory to punch a spot in the postseason.

Notables:

• Eisfelder delivered a grand slam to clear the bases, finishing his night 2-for-2 with those four RBI and two walks.
• Geiger and Temesvary both had multi-hit games, recording the two doubles of the night for the home side.
• Rollins had another incredible outing with six shutout innings and seven punch outs, with Daniel Quintero backing him up with no earned runs and a strikeout of his own.
• Eight out of nine in the batting order recorded hits, with all nine reaching base at some point during the contest.

Up Next:

With the win, Johnson City clinched the two-seed in the Appy West at 25-22, making the playoffs for the first time since the championship-winning team in 2023. The team will travel to Kingsport to take on the Axmen in the first round on Friday, July 31st at 7:00 p.m. EST.

You can listen live to the postseason bout at https://www.appyleague.com/johnson-city/audio, with broadcaster Taylor Gautney taking you through it.

Also, be sure to follow our Instagram, @jc_doughboys, to see our postgame interview with Geiger and Matti after the dramatic walk-off. You can also keep up with the team during the playoffs on the page for the rest of the season!