Larry N. Souders/Star Correspondent River Riders first baseman Eli Evans (6) is handcuffed by a sharp grounder off the bat of Pulaski’s T.J. Williams (36) but recovers in time to make the unassisted first out at first in the top of the third inning.

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Star Correspondent

Being no-hit through five innings by a pair of Pulaski pitchers, the Elizabethton River Riders put on a late rally that fell through in sudden death. In the new Appalachian League, if a game is tied after seven innings in a seven-inning game, then the home team can decide to either play defense to win or bat to win.

River Riders manager Jeremy Owens decided to play defense, but River Turtles third baseman Tre Bryant collected his third hit of the day, plating Aden Malpass for a 4-3 win.

“We could have decided easily to lay down, but these guys don’t have that in them,” Owens said. “These guys are never going to quit.”

Bryant was three-for-three on the day with a pair of runs scored and the game-winning RBI, and catcher Brayden Ricketts finished three-for-four with two runs batted in.

Justyn Hart started for the Riders, and he threw three innings, giving up a run on three hits while striking out three and issuing one walk. The Riders got that run back in the bottom of the third frame when Terrance Bowen led off with a walk.

Bowen went to second on a ground ball from Joshua Evans.

Bowen stole third base and came home on a sacrifice fly from Cadyn Karl to tie the game at 1-1.

In the fifth, the Turtles scored a run on a walk to Bryant to open the frame, and he scored on a single from Ricketts for a 2-1 Pulaski advantage. The Turtles struck for a run in the sixth, with Ricketts driving in his second run of the contest.

In the last of the sixth, the Riders (15-18) struck for a pair of runs to tie the score at 3-3, with Ethan Ball, Jackson Berry and Eli Evans all reaching on walks to load the bases, and catcher Xavier Bradley’s single brought home a run to make it a 3-2 game.

Jack Ratcliffe then popped out to second base for the first out of the stanza, and after a walk to Bowen to once again load the bases, Evans reached on an infield single to bring home the tying run.

In the sudden death top of the eighth, with Malpass on first, Jonathan Holt dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move him to second, and with two outs after Kennedy Drexler struck out, Ryan Bailey then issued an intentional walk to Turtles leadoff man T.J. Williams to bring Bryant to the plate, and he delivered a line-drive single to center field to bring home Malpass with the winning run.

“I never second-guessed the decision,” said Owens of his intentional walk to Williams. “I had the guy I wanted on the mound, and I played the percentages. This time it didn’t work out. We are in a skid right now, and I thought a sudden death win might give us a spark.”

Pulaski 4, Elizabethton 3

Pulaski  001 011 1 — 4 8 0
Riders  001 002 x — 3 2 1

W — Justin Trucks  L — Ryan Bailey