HUNTINGTON- The Greenbrier East Spartans had another big hitting day and got 16 of them on Saturday, March 29 at Spring Valley as the Timberwolves only had four.
However, in the run column, the Spartans came up short in an 8-7 loss in a game where they left a few too many runners on base and the Timberwolves capitalized just a couple more times.
In the first inning, the Spartans loaded the bases with one out, but they could not get a run across the plate and left the bases full.
East took a 1-0 lead in inning number three when Eli Green singled home Nelson Lynch who had reached base with a double.
Then, in the top of the fifth, the Spartans appeared to take control.
They loaded the bases again on a double by Brady May, a walk to Lynch, and a base hit from Green. Layne Lambert came through with an RBI single and Brayden Bascombe and Zion Detko followed suit. But Bascombe was thrown out at home during the next at-bat as part of a double play that stopped the Spartan rally. Still, East led 5-1 at that point.
But it was the bottom half of that same inning that may have put the weirdest stat line in the books in a long time.
The Timberwolves (6-2) put six runs on the board to take the lead, but they only needed one hit to do so. Three batters hit-by-a-pitch and five walks contributed to Spring Valley’s comeback and the lone hit was a 2-run double from junior Parker Phillips for a 7-5 Spring Valley advantage.
East (5-2) tied it back up at 7-all in the sixth but then relinquished it to an 8-7 Timberwolves lead in the bottom of the sixth frame.
The Spartans threatened in the seventh but suffered a momentum killer when Bascombe got thrown out at home on a ball hit by Graham Brewster after a great play from Spring Valley’s Cole Ferguson.
May grounded out to end the game.
Lambert (3-4, run, three RBIs) and May (3-5) led the hitting attack for East. Brewster, Green, and Bascombe each had two hits.
Green started the game pitching and went four innings, gave up three hits, six runs, and walked five. Sonny Herbert was hit with the loss in relief.
The Spartans will head to Summers County this Monday, March 31 to play the Bobcats. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30.
