PULASKI, Va. — The Johnson City Doughboys dropped a close, low-scoring game against the Pulaski River Turtles on Wednesday, 3-1.
From the first pitch, it was a duel between the starters for each team. Eli Baker for the River Turtles pitched through the first five innings of the game, giving up no runs scored on three hits while striking out two batters. Doughboys starter Bryson Thacker followed closely, going 4 2/3 innings, giving up a single run on two hits and setting down five batters on strikes.
The single run given up by Thacker was the first of the ballgame. In the bottom of the fifth, Jonathan Holt reached first on a single before Lukas Buckner blasted a double off the center field wall to bring Holt in to score.
The Doughboys tied it up in the top of the very next inning. Landon Smelser led off with a line-drive single before working his way to third. Paris Pridgen brought Smelser home on an RBI sacrifice fly to right fielder Ty Wisdom.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ryan Smith had the bases loaded and two outs before a wild pitch to the backstop saw Brayden Ricketts come sliding across home to give Pulaski the 2-1 lead.
In the very next inning in another bases-loaded situation, Ricketts worked a walk, which had Holt come home and put the River Turtles up by two.
Johnson City couldn’t come up with a comeback in the ninth as the River Turtles sat down the three outs they needed in four batters and secured themselves a win, 3-1.
Johnson City will travel back to its own home field for a new series Thursday against the Danville Otterbots. First pitch at TVA Credit Union Ballpark set for 7 p.m.
