PULASKI, Va. -- Though Wednesday’s 12-4 loss was not the storybook ending Tri-State hoped for, it nonetheless signaled the end to a memorable inaugural season. Both Trent Adelman and Cooper McKenzie ended with multi-hit nights as the Coal Cats bookended the season against the Pulaski River Turtles.
Pulaski wasted no time getting on the board during Wednesday’s finale. Following a 1-2-3 top of the first, a leadoff walk and wild pitch led to an RBI groundout by Alec DeMartino that gave Pulaski a 1-0 lead.
In the third, Tri-State slowly applied pressure to light up the scoreboard. Cooper McKenzie reached on an error before a Trent Adelman single and Michael Rodriguez hit by pitch loaded the bases. From there, Chace Chaplin drew a walk to bring in McKenzie and tie the game.
However, the River Turtles quickly broke the tie and crawled out of its shell offensively. A fourth-inning single by Kevin Jones gave the River Turtles a 2-1 lead before the Turtles broke through in the next inning. Scoring seven runs on six hits, the home side gained a 9-1 gap.
Despite the setback, Tri-State answered in its next opportunity at the plate. Following a walk and a single from Matt Ilgenfritz, a throwing error at second base brought home a run, beginning the Cats’ two-out rally. Continuing the rally were two of the Cats’ most productive hitters, as McKenzie and Adelman recorded back-to-back RBI singles. Adelman’s single not only made it a 9-4 deficit but also gave the left fielder his second hit of the night. Later, McKenzie became the second Tri-State batter to record a multi-hit night with an eighth-inning single.
Though the Cats fought hard to chip away at the lead, the River Turtles pulled away during the late innings. Pulaski tacked on three more runs to its lead during the seventh and eighth innings, recording four hits and two walks in the process. The Cats continued to fight late in the contest by putting runners on base in each of the final three innings but could not bring any runs home.
With Wednesday’s 12-4 loss comes the end of Tri-State’s historic inaugural season. As the fans of Huntington, W.Va. witnessed their first season of Appy League in 30 years, the team finished with a 22-26 season and fourth-place finish in the East Division. Though the season ended with a loss, the memories that led to Wednesday’s finale will last a lifetime to all who witnessed it, whether those memories include Tri-State’s combined no-hitter, Spencer Barnett’s walk-off debut or the team’s inaugural game.