Cyclones mid-game eruption propels them past Pioneers, 13-6

Published 12:33 am Saturday, April 30, 2022

JONESBOROUGH- A cloudy Friday evening was a great setting for the Elizabethton Cyclones and the David Crockett Pioneers. After the Cyclones made the trip to Washington County, it seemed like no one told them they were playing for the first few innings, but a mid-game eruption was more than enough to secure a victory, 13-6.

The Pioneers would strike first in the bottom of the first with the Cyclones getting off to a rather slow start.

A quiet second inning set up a good Crockett third with the home team adding two more runs to make it 3-0 in favor of the Pioneers.

The drive to Jonesborough seemed to have made the Cyclones sluggish until the fourth when somebody woke them up.

After a strikeout started the inning, three straight walks loaded the bases for Hayden Nave who blasted the ball into deep left for a bases-clearing double. Another walk and a strikeout later, Gage Treadway would eek out an infield hit to score Nave and give the Cyclones a 4-3 lead. Zac Workman would cap off the inning for Betsy with a ground-ball single into left leaving the tally 6-3 in the visitor’s favor.

This lead wouldn’t last very long, however, as the Pioneers battled back immediately in the bottom half of the inning. An error got things cooking for Crockett as the momentum switched back over. A seeing-eye single down the right-field line miraculously stayed in play and quickly there were two runners on base. Garrett Leonard would knock the two home making it 6-5.

A Brenden Reid sacrifice fly would tie the game as the two teams headed to the fifth.

Jeriah Griffin and Nave would start the inning off with back-to-back singles setting up Kaleb Hambrick for a huge double that would score Griffin. An error on a hard-hit Peyton Johnson ball scored another as the Cyclones looked to make another run.

Treadway knocked another deep single to give the Cyclones two runners for Workman who would smack a ball of the third baseman’s glove to score two more runs making it 10-6 Elizabethton.

After two straight walks to start the bottom half of the inning, Betsy went to the bullpen and called on Connor Edmundson to finish out the game, and that’s exactly what he did.

Things went from bad to worse as the Pioneers nearly got out of the top of the sixth without any damage, but a dropped third strike left Nave safe at first.

After a walk, Hambrick hit a deep fly ball off the fence in left to score two more runs. Treadway would close out the scoring with a double to the wall of his own scoring Hambrick and make it 13-6 just as it would finish.

Treadway batted 4-for-4 to lead the Cyclones while Johnson added a 3-for-5 outing.

A non-district game late in the season like this can serve as a great booster for the Cyclones as they push into tournaments.