ST. ALBANS, WV- The Greenbrier East Spartans will have to wait another year to play in the state tournament.
East suffered a 10-3 loss to the St. Albans Red Dragons in the third and final game of the Region 3 regional championship series on Wednesday night, May 24 in St. Albans.
The Red Dragons scored in every inning except for the second as the Spartans could just never get over the hump.
After the Spartans went down harmlessly in the top of the first inning, St. Albans struck first when Ryker Parker took a 2-1 pitch from Eli Green and drove it over the fence to center field. That put the Red Dragons up 2-0 after one.
That score remained until East came to the plate in the third and clawed their way back in it. A walk to Ashton Cochran and a single from Darris Boswell started the frame off on the right foot. It kept going in the right direction when Clayton Morgan lined a 2-run single to left field and the Spartans tied the score at 2-all.
However, in the bottom half, Tristan Harless doubled in a run, and then two batters later Will Curry singled in a run, another run scored on a Spartan error and the confidence seemed to leave the Spartans.
East would cut it to 5-3 in the fourth on a Peyton DeHaven sac fly that scored Gabe Patton, but that would be as close as the Spartans would get the rest of the evening.
St. Albans (25-15) scored the game’s next five runs and used four different pitchers throughout the game, but it just was not meant to be on this night.
Seniors Morgan (2-4, 2 RBIs) and Henry Goodwin (3-3) shined in their final career game.
Spartan pitchers—Green, Layne Lambert, Goodwin, Rylee Wilson and Boswell– combined to give up 10 hits and 10 walks. They recorded no strikeouts.
Aidan Youngblood went 3-4 with a run and an RBI for St. Albans. Harless contributed a 2-4 night with two runs and two RBIs.
East had a tremendous run over the last three-and-a half weeks that started with a win over Bridgeport where they scored seven runs in the final inning for arguably their best win of the season to that point. They used that momentum to roll through sectionals and take a 1-0 regionals lead, before falling in these last two contests.
Coach Cory Mann did a great job with his team.
The Spartans finished the season with a record of 19-18 and winners of nine of their final 12 games.
Look for a full season recap soon.
