The Greenbrier East Spartans continued their solid play on the baseball diamond on Tuesday, May 18 when they defeated the Shady Spring Tigers 8-7 in another game that provided a thrilling finish, something East has been accustomed to recently.
After spotting the Tigers an early 1-0 in the first inning on an Alex Johnston solo homerun off Spartan starter Jacob Graham, East went to work on offense in the second frame.
Jordan Mize and Logan Carr walked, and then Chris Heaster hit a single that loaded the bases. Zac Trump hit a ground ball that Shady first baseman Hunter Ritchie misplayed, and Mize crossed home plate to tie the game at 1-1. Cooper Via then singled home Carr and a passed ball allowed Trump to score, and the Spartans had jumped ahead 3-1.
And they still were not done.
Darris Boswell got an RBI groundout and Noah Hanna singled to left field that brought Isiah Brooks home as the Spartans increased their advantage to 5-1 after two innings of play.
The Tigers got two runs back in the fourth on a strange sacrifice play and then came charging back even more in the fifth.
Johnston had an RBI single, and Colten Tate scored on an error. By the end of the frame, Shady Spring had taken a 7-5 lead.
East answered in the bottom of the same inning when Heaster knocked an RBI double to center that scored Tanner Skidmore, and the Spartans cut the deficit to 7-6 after five
Shady committed two very costly errors in the sixth, the second one by Lovell in right field that allowed two East runs to score, and the Spartans took an 8-7 lead.
After a leadoff single by Johnston, Spartan pitcher Daniel Wygal completed the comeback with three consecutive pop-outs as East celebrated their thirteenth victory of the season (13-3).
Heaster went 3-4 with an RBI to lead the Spartans.
Johnston went 3-4 with two runs scored and two driven in to pace the Tigers.
Wygal picked up the win on the mound for East.
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