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By Carter Jones

JOHNSON CITY – The Johnson City Doughboys wrapped up their game from yesterday with a 7-3 victory, followed by a near no-hitter and an 8-1 rout of the Bristol State Liners.

Bristol opened up Tuesday’s game with Brayden Gilley on the mound, as he made the most of the start for the State Liners. Sporting a 1.13 ERA on eight innings pitched, Gilley added four more to that total, allowing only three hits in the process and no runs.

Two of those hits came from Doughboys center fielder Paris Pridgen and the other from third baseman Camden Kaufman.

Johnson City’s starter, Bryson Thacker, matched Gilley with four innings pitched of his own. Thacker made his exit, giving up only a singular hit while racking up five strikeouts in 13 total batters faced. Both teams were still scoreless heading into the fifth inning.

The Doughboys’ bats finally broke ground in the top of the fifth. Reliever Beau Revord for Bristol walked the bases loaded early, before Pridgen roped his third hit of the night into center field, bringing Kaufman and Logan Fyffe around to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

Griffin Howell replaced Thacker at the bottom of the inning, striking out one and retiring two more in four batters faced to hold onto the lead for Johnson City.

After a scoreless sixth inning for the Doughboys, Elijah Alexander for the State Liners tied the ballgame with a double to center field, scoring Prince DeBoskie and Patrick Gillen, who both reached base on walks.

Doughboys designated hitter Jose Fernandez didn’t let that lead stand for long. With the bases loaded, Fernandez lifted a fly ball into right field that fell in play, bringing Fyffe around to score for a second time that night.

With a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh, the Doughboys had their first out recorded on a Stefan Swee strikeout — that’s when the rain started. A monsoon came over TVA Credit Union Ballpark, suspending play for the rest of the night.

Picking up where they left off the next day, Johnson City and Bristol continued their game in the bottom of the seventh with one out. Lleyton Daily took over on the mound for the Doughboys, while the State Liners brought out Matthew Bienvenu to resume play.

Daily started strong, striking out two of his five batters faced in the seventh, and two more in the eighth, working his way out of both innings with runners on but no runs given up. Bienvenu followed suit in the eighth, going three up, three down and striking out two in the process.

Johnson City had a late wake-up call in the top of the ninth as they exploded on offense, totaling three hits and four runs scored. Two of those runs came from a Nate Connor single into right field that scored Trey Majette and Fernandez.

In the bottom of the ninth, Bristol had some major work to make up, and designated hitter Brooks Wright wasn’t going down without a fight. Wright turned on a pitch from Daily and clobbered it deep over the left-field wall to make the score 7-3.

That would be the game’s final, as Daily recorded another out before closer Ricky O’Dette came in for the last out of the game, making Gillen the final out on a grounder to first.

Game two of Wednesday’s doubleheader started shortly after and featured Michael Fliss as the starter for Bristol and Blake Dean on the mound for Johnson City.

It was like night and day between the two starters. Fliss struggled early on, loading the bases immediately with two walks and a hit by pitch, before Jose Fernandez got things started early with a two-RBI double off the left-center field wall.

Things didn’t stop there, as Nate Connor grounded out to first but brought Paris Pridgen across home after he reached on a walk. That was followed by an RBI single from Dane Morrow that scored Fernandez, giving the Doughboys a 4-0 lead in the first.

On the other side, Dean started red hot on the mound, setting down six straight in his first two innings pitched. In the third, Dean notched the first two outs with no problem before walking Joe Dusell on a full count, giving Bristol their first baserunner of the game, before getting out of the inning on a fly ball to right.

In between those innings, the Doughboys brought in another run off a towering home run by Trey Majette that cleared the scoreboard. Through three innings, Johnson City grew its lead to five.

After a shutdown fourth inning on the mound by Ty Barnett, Bristol finally found the scoring column as Jaxon Walker reached first on a fielder’s choice, scoring Cole Young from third to make it 5-1.

In the fifth, Majette stayed hot at the plate with a leadoff single. Connor would bring him home from third after Majette made it there off a wild pickoff throw from Jhoneidi Almonte to first. Ryan Jones hit a third straight single for the Doughboys before back-to-back groundout RBIs from Morrow and Fyffe scored him and Connor both. Now an 8-1 ballgame.

By the final two innings, Bristol was still hitless, and the tension in TVA Credit Union Ballpark started rising. Carson French got the call to the bump and made quick work in the sixth, going three up, three down with one strikeout.
A scoreless top of the seventh for Johnson City would put the final three outs needed in the hands of French for the combined no-hitter.

After walking Walker to start, French dialed back in, retiring the next two batters on a pop fly and line drive, both caught for outs. One out away from the no-hitter, Jean Carlos Garcia-Chicano stepped up to the plate and roped a sharp ground ball into right field, ending the bid for the Doughboys.

Spirits were high soon after, as Fernandez ended the game on a snap-down throw to second where Morrow laid the tag on Garcia-Chicano for the final out of the ballgame. Final score: 8-1.

The Doughboys will remain at home tomorrow as they welcome the Pulaski River Turtles to TVA Credit Union Ballpark for a quick two-game series. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.