JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — After Tuesday night's close 13-9 victory, the Axmen just ran out of luck. Kingsport held a tight lead for most of the game, but the Doughboys' late rally was too much for the Axmen to handle in Wednesday's 8-6 loss.
Kingsport was the first team on the board after a single from Jace Roosien. Kam Durnin then knocked in a run himself after a groundout to third, and Ben Tryon added an RBI double for good measure to take a 3-0 lead.
The RBI for Durnin was not just any ordinary RBI, it was his 49th of the season. The RBI broke the single-season record of 48 RBIs, and Durnin is now etched in the Appalachian League record books.
However, the pageantry didn’t last for much longer. Johnson City added a run in the bottom of the third, and just an inning later took the lead on a three-run homer off the bat of Logan Fyffe.
With the score 4-3, the Axmen needed an answer, and it came from Landis Davila, who hit a sacrifice fly to score Durnin in the fifth.
With the game tied now in the bottom half of the same frame, Braxton Baird drove in the go-ahead run to put the Doughboys up, 5-4.
As expected in the following sixth inning, Phoenix McFarland hit a double down the third base line to score PJ Jones from first base to tie the game once more.
It was like watching two kids play tug-of-war with the rope going back-and-forth. Except the later innings seemed to cool down.
That was until the eighth, when Davila hit another sac fly to score the go-ahead run and put the Axmen up, 6-5.
However, to no surprise, Johnson City had some offense in store for the Axmen. With two outs in the eighth, the Doughboys rattled off three hits in a row, scoring three runs in the process. The first was a double from Fyffe that scored two, and a single from Camden Kaufman scored the other.
Alex Kelsey singled in the ninth to give the Axmen some hope, but Colin Larson grounded into a double play to end the night.
Johnson City snapped the seven-game win streak of Kingsport’s, as the Axmen are headed to Bluefield to take on the second-place Ridge Runners on Thursday and Friday night. A win in either game would lock in the Axmen for the West championship game.
