Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By: Andrew Smith

The Bristol State Liners (7-18) blew out the Elizabethton River Riders (11-14) on Wednesday night by a final score of 16-7. Center fielder Jack Tomlinson went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI.

The loss marked the last game at home in the month of June for the River Riders, as they went 6-9 in the month while playing at Northeast Community Credit Union Ballpark. They remained one game behind the second-place Greeneville Flyboys.

The scoring started in the bottom of the fourth inning. Right fielder Avery Owusu-Asiedu led off the inning with an opposite-field home run that went 347 feet. However, that is all the River Riders would get in the fourth, as they held a 1-0 lead.

Bristol would get the lead in the top of the fifth. Tomlinson and right fielder Sean Smith scored on a two-out single by designated hitter Brandon Nigh. The game was 2-1 State Liners at the game’s halfway point.

E-Town tied the game back up in the bottom of the fifth. Left fielder Brendan Jones brought home center fielder Zach Freeman on a fielder’s choice to second base. The game was tied 2-2 after five.

The State Liners then scored fourteen unanswered runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. In the sixth, Bristol scored three runs on four hits and one walk. The seventh saw five runs on three hits and two errors. They added six more runs in the eighth, with four hits and four walks. After the damage was done, it was 16-2 in favor of the State Liners.

Elizabethton fought back in the bottom of the eighth. Owusu-Asiedu began the frame with a single and moved to third on a double by third baseman Harrison Rodgers. First baseman Brennan Orf brought home Owusu-Asiedu on a single. Rodgers came home on a single by Freeman to cut the lead to 16-4. Then, Orf scored on a wild pitch, catcher Cayden Phillips scored on a passed ball, and Freeman scored on a balk to make it 16-7, where it would stay.

The River Riders will look to rebound on Thursday night as they will return to Pioneer Park to play the Greeneville Flyboys. First pitch will be at 7 p.m. Bristol will begin a series against the Danville Otterbots on Thursday. The game will begin at 7 p.m. from Boyce Cox Field.

Final                       R    H    E    LOB

State Liners          16   16    1      16

River Riders           7     9     3      6

 

W: Landon Maynard (1-0)

L: Jess Miller (1-2)