JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Johnson City Doughboys lost game two of the series to the Burlington Sock Puppets, in a 14-5 blowout on Saturday night at TVA Credit Union Ballpark.

The Sock Puppets notched 16 hits and seven different scoring innings en route to the offensive explosion. The Doughboys played down the whole game and could never find the string of momentum to crawl back.

After a scoreless top of the first, with three strikeouts from Johnson City starter Will Haas, the Doughboys put together some early offense in the bottom. Gunner Skelton led off the inning with a hard-hit single, Braxton Van Cleave reached on an error, and then Nate Eisfelder walked.

But, Johnson City stranded the bases loaded, and Burlington took advantage with a three-run second and third. Brandon Novy drilled his second home run of the series, 402 feet to deep left-center, to tie for the league lead in home runs.

A plethora of hits in the third from Novy again, Jack Beck with a double, Devin Mitchell, and Orlando Fernandez continued the hot start for the Sock Puppets. At the end of three innings, it was already 6-2.

Deacon Pomery then hit another long ball. Burlington finished with three, 106 miles per hour off the bat to left field. Six straight scoring innings made the hole too big to crawl out of for Johnson City.

This included Bruce Wyche’s first triple of the season for an RBI and another home run, this time the first of Braden Maranto’s season, to make it 13-2 after seven full innings. Every single Sock Puppet in the lineup recorded a hit, with three different batters having 3+.

The Doughboys showed some life in the eighth and ninth, putting up three runs. Eli Thurmond, Zach Porter, and Jack Jones all drew walks, and Gabe Tanous drove one in the eighth with a sacrifice fly.

In the ninth, already down big, Noah Cox notched his first base of the game with a lead-off single, and then Braxton Van Cleave drilled a double for his first of the summer in his first game. Jackson Geiger drove one in with a sacrifice fly.

But, Bubba Sims shut the door after striking out Thurmond with a backward K. The pitching staff for Burlington, Cade Pilgrim, Tate Jones, Lleyton Daily, and Sims combined for five strikeouts and only eight allowed hits.

Notables:

• Gunner Skelton logged another multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with two singles.
• Eli Thurmond, Jackson Geiger, and Gabe Tanous recorded the only RBI in the game.
• Jacob Gomberg went one inning and struck out three with 0 earned runs, recording a great third appearance of the summer.

Up Next:

With the loss, it sets up a key rubber match in the early season in game three on Sunday, June 21, at 2:00 p.m. at TVA Credit Union Ballpark.

Get your tickets today at https://www.appyleague.com/johnson-city/tickets and keep up with all the Doughboys action on our Instagram, @jc_doughboys.