Inching closer….Cyclones dispatch Central 13-3 to improve to 11-0 in TRC
Published 8:23 am Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Star Photos/Ivan Sanders A Central runner barely slides under the tag attempt of Cyclone shortstop Bryson Rollins.
Elizabethton’s Lawson Wagner is retired by a step on a close play at first base.
Cyclone base runner Karson Dillard retreats back to first base on a pickoff attempt by the Cougar catcher.
Elizabethton catcher Evan Perkins steps into a pitch for a base hit.
Evan Carter of Elizabethton had his second consecutive strong start striking out 10 Central batters in the contest.
The Elizabethton Cyclones, playing before their most arguably largest crowd of the 2019 season, are currently hoping to put team No. 100 on the record books but needed to take care of business Monday night to inch closer to that mark.
With fanfare surrounding the celebration of being the 100th team plus Alumni Night, the Cyclones put aside the distractions and handled Sullivan Central by a 13-3 score.
The win moved the Cyclones to 11-0 in Three Rivers Conference play—one win away from going undefeated in conference play in what is thought to be the first time a baseball team at EHS has done so.
Everything went the way the Cyclones had planned as junior Evan Carter toed the pitching rubber for Coach Ryan Presnell’s ball club and didn’t disappoint.
Carter went the distance as he recorded his second consecutive game with double-digit strikeouts fanning 10 Cougar batters. In his last game against Unicoi Co., the fireballing pitcher had 13 K’s.
While Carter was serving up BB’s, his teammates were taking care of things offensively.
The Cyclones scored at least one run in every inning except the first inning scoring multiple runs in the fourth (4) and sixth frame (6) to end the contest by the 10-run mercy rule.
Freshman Bryson Rollins swung the big stick during the contest going 2-for-4, including a triple, and driving home three RBI’s.
Carter (2 RBI’s) and Nico Ashley also ripped a triple apiece in the contest.
Elizabethton had eight hits total getting hits from Karson Dillard (2 RBI’s), Evan Perkins (1 RBI), Lawson Wagner (1 RBI), and Jaden Anderson (1 RBI).
The Cougars sent three pitchers to the mound to try and impede the Cyclone hit parade but to no avail. Central stranded only four Cyclone runners the entire contest.
“It took us a little bit to make adjustments tonight,” said Cyclone catcher Perkins. “He (Central pitcher) was throwing mainly fastballs and Coach White tells us to hunt fastballs and that’s what we try to do.
“It took us a while to get adjusted to that speed as we don’t see that speed in practice.”
Finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, Coach Presnell said that he was proud of the way his team responded in the contest.
“We are one step closer to what we are trying to do,” Presnell said. “Tonight we claimed outright first place and the outright regular-season conference championship as nobody can tie us at this point.
“It took a while to get going. There were a couple of factors that made tonight tough for us but our guys battled through. I was really into that game and I felt that I coached really hard and the assistant coaches coached really hard.
“We had a lot of good calls and the guys were able to execute in most of the situations,” continued Presnell. “It’s always tough playing on Monday’s. We had two days off and Easter dinner yesterday. Just a lot of factors to come out here and get a run-rule victory.”
The Cyclones (19-5, 11-0) traveled to Blountville Tuesday evening looking to secure their 12th conference win and victory No. 20 on the season to wrap up regular-season conference play.
Elizabethton wraps up the season against Class 3-A opponents to close out the season before entering tournaments next weekend.
