HURRICANE, W.Va. – The Greenbrier East Spartans lost a pair of close, tough battles over the weekend when they played a double-header against the John Marshall Monarchs and the No. 1 ranked Hurricane Redskins. East jumped out to an early lead against the Monarchs, but eventually lost 7-4, and against the Redskins, the Spartans could not muster up enough offense in a 3-0 defeat.
Zion Detko got an RBI single in the first inning in the opener, as Gabe Patton scored. East led 1-0 after one inning.
In the third, the Spartans stayed the course as well. Peyton DeHaven led off the inning with a single, and two batters later, Ashton Cochran also got a base hit. They both scored when Darris Boswell laced a 2-run double to right field, and East took a 3-0 lead after three.
However, the Monarchs chose to wake up in the fourth frame. Cain Martin started off with a triple against East pitcher, Gavin Bennett, and that was followed with an RBI double from Jacob Coffield, and the Monarchs found the scoreboard and trailed 3-1.
John Marshall (6-8) trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, when Coffield scored on an error off the bat of Braden Sobutka. Bennett was able to get out of the frame on the next batter to keep that score in favor of the Spartans.
With the Spartans struggling to find more runs, the Monarchs broke out completely in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tyler Stauffer singled to start the frame but got to second on an error. Daniel Montz then bunted and reached base with a hit. Two batters later, Martin hit a two-run double to give John Marshall a 4-3 lead. Then, two batters after that, Sobutka hit a triple to the gap in rights Martin and Coffield came around to score. Bennett would get Isaac Koontz to strikeout, but another run scored on the passed ball as the Spartans found themselves down 7-3 late.
East added their last run of the day on a Detko single that scored Ian Cline, but Clayton Morgan’s fly out ended the game, and the Monarchs were victorious.
Detko went 3-4 with two RBIs. Boswell was 2-3 with two RBIs as well.
Coffield (3-3, 2 runs, RBI), Martin (2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI’s and Sobutka (2-4, run, 2 RBI’s) led John Marshall’s offensive attack.
Bennett pitched six innings, scattered 10 hits and allowed seven runs (five earned). He struck out three and walked three.
The Spartan bats went a little quiet in game two while taking on the Redskins (15-3), but Hurricane is ranked No. 1 for a reason.
Hurricane pitcher, Owen Gress, one of the top pitchers in the state, was sharp on the mound and gave up only five hits to East. He struck eight batters in seven innings.
Boswell pitched well for East (9-11) and the game was scoreless after four innings, but a big fifth inning from the Redskins was the Spartans’ undoing, even though Hurricane did not record a hit. An error scored one and a sac fly scored another, as Hurricane took a 2-0 lead and never looked back. East put two runners on in the seventh frame with singles by Boswell and Detko, but Bennett hit into a double play for the final two outs.
East had only five hits, but still outhit the Redskins who only had three.
Boswell went four innings, gave up three hits and just two runs, and struck out three and walked three. Patton pitched two innings and allowed an unearned run and had two Ks.
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