Momentum may kick in high gear for the Greenbrier East Spartans after tonight’s 8-7 win over the Woodrow Wilson Flying Eagles at Spartan Yards.
Ashton Cochran got a walk off base hit in the bottom of the seventh that scored Ian Cline as East rebounded from their 12-2 loss to Alleghany (VA) on Tuesday night.
Early in the contest it was a back-and-forth battle.
Spartan pitcher Eli Green started the game and hit the first batter and walked the second. After striking out Blake Stratton and looking like he was going to get out of the frame unscathed, Ty Evans ripped a 2-run single to right field for a 2-0 Woodrow Wilson lead.
The Spartans (6-7) answered in the bottom of the first as Gabe Patton got them going with an RBI single that scored Cline. Then, Patton scored on a double from Darris Boswell as East had answered quickly. A couple batters later, Boswell scored on a wild pitch to cap the scoring, and East led 3-2 after one.
Following a scoreless second inning, the bats got going again for Beckley (6-6). Two singles, a hit-by-pitch and a walk, all with two outs, got the Eagles moving. Chase Tolliver scored on the HBP to knot the score at 3-all, then Green walked Blake Nixon that scored another run, and finally Evans scored on an error and when that half of the inning was over, Beckley held a 5-3 advantage.
But the Spartans, resilient on this night, never would go away. Peyton DeHaven hit an RBI single that scored Zion Detko. Cline popped out to end the inning, but the Spartans had cut the deficit to 5-4.
Beckley extended that lead to 6-4 in the fourth but missed a chance to make it even more by stranding a runner on second, and then it was the Spartans turn again.
Clayton Morgan raced home on a wild pitch and scored in the fifth to cut the score to 6-5, Woodrow. Four batters later, Cline came up huge. On a day when the WV Daily News did a feature story on the junior, he drove a double to left center, and Henry Goodwin and DeHaven both scored on the play to give East a 7-6 lead at that point.
After the Eagles tied the game at 7-apiece on a Stratton hit, the Spartans came up in the bottom half to win it.
Cline drew a 2-out walk, then with Cochran at the plate, he started to steal second as Cochran put the ball in a hole and Cline came around to score as the remaining home crowd went wild and the Spartans notched a big win against their biggest rivals.
Boswell came on in relief of Green after Green went 2.2 innings, and the senior was able to settle things down. Bowell got the win and logged 4.1 innings, four hits, just one run and five strikeouts.
Cochran (2-5, RBI) was the only Spartan with at least two hits, but Cline drove in two and scored two. It was a balanced night as East racked up eight total hits.
Stratton and Evans each got two hits for Beckley.
The Spartans will take Thursday off and then head to Washington High School for a double-header this Friday, April 7.
