BLUEFIELD, Va. — Kingsport trailed by seven runs after the first inning, but with impressive offense down the stretch, the Axmen rattled off eleven unanswered runs to win, 12-8, over the Bluefield Ridge Runners on Saturday.
The Axmen trailed 8-1 after the first inning of the game as Bluefield pounced early, putting up the eight runs on five hits.
Kingsport didn’t immediately have an answer, and the lead seemed insurmountable.
The Axmen chipped away at the lead in the third with an RBI double from Luett that scored two runs, but even then, it didn’t seem like Kingsport was getting any closer to Bluefield.
The shift in momentum took place in the sixth inning when Passo and Trey Jozwiakowski sent back-to-back home runs out of Bowen Field to make the score 8-6.
After leaving the bases loaded the prior inning, the Axmen found themselves down by two with two runners on in the eighth.
Garrett Luett had two RBIs so far on the night and was the next to bat for the Axmen. Like many times already this season, Luett came through in the clutch, delivering an RBI single to score one run.
Still trailing by one, Cash Williams walked to load the bases for Dylan Passo. Passo came to the plate with two outs with the tying run just 90 feet away.
Passo smoked the second pitch he saw to second base, but Bluefield’s Alex Meyers could not handle it. The ball leaked into the outfield, not only bringing the tying run across, but bringing the go-ahead run in as well.
However, even though Bluefield had been kept quiet since the first, the Ridge Runners were able to load the bases with two away in the bottom of the eighth.
In the big spot Kingsport turned to Aiden Zerr, who gave up all five runs in the previous contest, to get one out. Zerr seized his chance at redemption and got a ground ball out from Cameron Dube.
Kingsport still led 9-8 and scored three more runs in the top of the ninth. Kyuss Gargett knocked in two on a single, and Luett scored him on a double.
Even then Kingsport wasn’t out of the woods yet, and for the second straight inning Bluefield had the bases loaded up.
With two outs, Michael Savarese blew a fastball past the bat of Nate Hawton-Henley to strike out the final batter of the game.
Kingsport scored eleven unanswered runs to finish the game, a crazy feat considering where the game originally looked like it was heading.
Up next, Kingsport and Bluefield meet in the rubber match Sunday.
