FAIRLEA- After not playing for a week, the Greenbrier East Spartans found themselves neck-and-neck with the visitors to Spartan Yards, the Shady Spring Tigers, on Thursday night, April 16 going into the final inning.
But in the top of the seventh, the Tigers broke a 4-4 tie with a 4-run inning, and the Spartans were defeated 8-4 in what was a key regional matchup at this point in the season.
But East displayed a great amount of resilience on the night prior to that final frame.
They got behind 4-0 in the top of the first. An error from pitcher Layne Lambert and two hit batters fueled the Tigers scoring and it was capped off with a 2-run single from Jacob Claypool.
But from that point forward, Lambert settled in and became almost unhittable and kept the Tigers at bay for much of the night which allowed the Spartans to slowly chip away at the deficit.
And they started in the bottom half of the second.
Following two outs on just two pitches, the Spartans rallied. Wyatt Thornton singled and moved to second on an errant throw trying to pick him off of first. Sonny Herbert then knocked him in with a base hit. After Nelson Lynch’s single, Sam Roshau grounded to third, but a Shady error in the field allowed two runs to score, and Greenbrier East trailed just 4-3 after two.
The score went to 4-4 in the fifth when DP Seams ripped a 2-out double and then he scored on an RBI single from Bo Bundy. That knotted the score at 4-4 heading to the sixth.
But it was that seventh inning that ultimately led to the Spartans undoing. The Tigers had four hits in the inning and also scored on a Spartan error. Brayden Brown singled in the bottom of the seventh for East, but Cooper Sabbag’s flyout to right field ended the contest and Shady picked themselves up a crucial road victory.
Lynch took the loss on the mound, but Lambert pitched six good innings, allowed just two hits (none after the second inning), gave up three earned runs, and struck out nine.
Lynch, Roshau, Seams, and Herbert all had two hits apiece.
The Spartans (2-11) travel to St. Albans Friday night for a bout with the Red Dragons.
Spartans Full Box Score:
