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BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
After a tough loss to Unicoi County earlier in the week, the Elizabethton Cyclones were back at home on Friday for another tough test against the Pioneers of David Crockett.

And it would be the Pioneers who would get the ball rolling early as in the very first frame, Cody Wheeley brought home the first run of the ball game with a double to left-center that was followed up in the next at-bat by a Mason Britton single, sending two more runners across.

With the Cyclones ready to take their first cuts, Crockett had a 3-0 advantage.

Noah Rosato put the Cyclones on the board in the home half of the first by bringing a runner across in the form of Bryson Rollins, who sent the ball down the right-field line for a triple to start things off.

The action picked back up in the bottom of the second, where Rollins gained two RBI’s of his own with a shot up the middle through the infield, knotting things up at three runs each heading into the third inning of play.

But things didn’t stay tied for long as Hayden Osburn found a gap in left field to bring home a run, and soon after an additional runner crossed the plate due to a fielding error. But that would be all the damage done, a 5-3 game in the middle of the third.

The Cyclones were able to fight their way back within striking distance in their half of the third when Elijah Birdsong would ground out, but not before scoring the runner from third base to bring things within one run, 5-4.

Things were relatively quiet from the top of the fourth to the middle of the fifth inning, but the home half of the fifth proved fruitful for the Cyclones.

It started when Zac Workman sent a shot to the wall in left-center field to tie things up with an RBI, and in the next at-bat, a wild pitch would complete Workman’s round trip, giving Elizabethton their first lead of the game, 6-5.

But the score increased even after that, as the Cyclone’s starter Ashton Wilson would ground out, bringing home another runner in the process to give Elizabethton the two-run advantage going into the sixth, 7-5.

Fired up from their performance at the plate, the Cyclones sat down the Pioneers with ease in a 1-2-3 top of the sixth.

And to keep the momentum going, Elizabethton added some insurance in their half of the inning, with Rosato collecting another RBI to make it 8-5 with one shot left for Crockett.

And the Cyclones were able to hold on to their comeback victory, keeping the Pioneers in check in the final frame and winning by a score of 8-5.