PRINCETON- After a lopsided loss to St. Albans on Tuesday, the Greenbrier East Spartans, playing their third game in as many days, traveled to Mercer County on Wednesday for a bout with the number 1 ranked team in Class AAA, the Pikeview Panthers.
After breaking a tie in the sixth inning and East’s Zion Detko knocking one out of the park in the seventh, the Spartans celebrated a huge victory as they defeated the Panthers 5-3.
And it was the Spartans who picked up the momentum early.
Detko led the game off with a double and the next hitter, Graham Brewster, singled to put runners on first and third with no outs. Then, after two quick outs, Ashton Cochran ripped a double to right field that scored Detko, and the Spartans led 1-0. Eli Green then followed with a critical 2-run double and after the top of the first, the Spartans (11-5) had already grabbed a 3-o lead.
The Panthers got two of those runs back in the bottom half after Green loaded the bases with three walks sandwiched around a fly out. Braden Huggins hit a sac fly for their first score and Landon Bolen drew a bases loaded walk for their second, and after one full frame, the Spartans lead was cut to 3-2.
Both team defenses and pitching were solid over the next few innings, especially for the Spartans with Brewster being right in the thick of two double plays. It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth that the Panthers scored again and knotted the game at 3-all when Trenton Tolliver singled home Drew Damewood with a base hit.
The Panthers (11-2) then got the Spartans to go down in order in the fifth and Nelson Lynch, who came to the mound in that fifth inning, did the same to Pikeview’s lineup.
It was then in the sixth inning that East jumped back in front with a sac fly from Green that scored Brewster. That made the score 4-3 after six.
Detko then showed out in the seventh with a huge insurance run when he took 1-1 pitch and drove it over the right field fence. The lefty put East up 5-3 and was mobbed by his teammates at home plate.
With their last chance to come back, the Panthers could not touch Lynch. He struck the first Panther hitter and retired the next two on just three pitches and the Spartans locked down arguably their biggest win of the 2025 campaign.
Detko finished 2-4 with the HR, a double, two runs, and an RBI. Brewster went 1-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, and Green was 1-2 and knocked in three runs.
Lynch got the win in relief. he pitched three innings, gave up just one hit, and had two strikeouts.
Eli Naylor, Christian Walters, and Austin Bennett led the Panthers with two hits each.
The Spartans get Thursday off before hitting the road for a double-header with Musselman on Friday evening at 4:00 and 7:00.
