By Mark Robinson
The Greenbrier East Spartans played the Princeton Tigers Monday evening, and Jonathan Carr made sure the Princeton offense stayed quiet, striking out nineteen batters on the way to a 5-0 victory. It was the first of a three-game series with the Tigers, a sectional matchup to determine who advances in the playoffs.
In the first inning, Carr struck out Jordan Jones and Cole Cochran, before Matt Mitchem hit to third and was thrown out at first.
East then came to bat. Colby Johnson flied out to center. Carr walked, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Daylon Colley flied out to left, sending Carr scrambling back to second base. Frank Ford flied out to right to end the inning.
In the second inning, Carr struck out Bryson Murphy, Logan Austin, and Christian Shafer.
In the bottom of the second inning, Blake Colley hit a pitch to center-right for a nice double. Shannon Bennett came in to pinch run, advancing to third base on a bad pitch. Chuck Bowyer hit a blooper over third base. When the fielder tried to get the runner at home, Bowyer made it to second base. The run scored, making it 1-0 East, with Bowyer on second. Joey Powell hit to right field for an out that advanced Bowyer to third base. Tom Willis then hit to right field, the fielder caught it, but Bowyer, on third, scored. 2-0. Tanner McAllister hit to left field for a double. He then stole third. Colby Johnson hit to third, and was thrown out at first.
In the third, Princeton’s Evan Wood got on base with a walk. He stole second, and then third. Workman struck out. Then Ethan Webb walked to make it to first base. Runners on first and third. Jones then struck out. Wood tried to steal second and was thrown out. 2-0.
For East, Carr made it to first when the second baseman couldn’t handle the grounder. Carr tried to steal second, when Daylon Colley hit to the shortstop, resulting in an out at second, but Colley was safe on first. Frank Ford up next. He hit to first, advancing Daylon Colley to second. The pitcher hit the next batter, Blake Colley, who went to first. So, Blake Colley on first, Daylon Colley on second. There was a bad throw to first by the catcher. Daylon Colley scored on the play, and Bennett, pinch running for Blake Colley, went to second base. Chuck Bowyer walked. Joey Powell hit the first pitch to center, who caught it. Three outs. Score 3-0.
In the fourth, Princeton’s Cole Cochran, Matt Mitchem and Bryson Murphy struck out. Three up, three down.
In the bottom of the inning, Tom Willis hit to the second baseman, and was thrown out at first. Tanner McCallister hit to right. Two outs. Colby Johnson hit it hard past the second baseman for a single. Carr then sent a shot hard between first and second base, forcing the runner, Johnson, to jump over the ball as it whizzed under him. The second baseman scooped up the grounder, and threw out Carr at first, to retire the side.
In the fifth, Princeton batting, it was Austin, Shafer and Hood walking back to the dugout without success. Three more strikeouts.
In the bottom of the fifth, Daylon Colley popped up to first. Frank Ford hit a grounder to first. The ball bounced off the first baseman’s glove, allowing Ford to be safe on base. Next up, Blake Colley hit a grounder to the shortstop, who tossed it to second, where the second baseman tagged the base and threw to first for a double play. Inning over, still 3-0.
In the sixth, Princeton’s Workman struck out. Webb made it to first on an error by Carr, who couldn’t handle the toss at first base. Then Jones struck out, and Cochran made it to first on a bobbled grounder to third baseman Joey Powell. Runners on first and second, but Mitchem was next to go down swinging, stranding two Tiger batters on base. Inning over, 3-0.
In the bottom of the inning, Chuck Bowyer was thrown out at first. The pitcher then hit Joey Powell, sending him to first. He advanced to second on a wild pitch. Then Willis walked. One out, runners on first and second. McCallister hit to third, who threw to first, but McCallister beat the throw, and was safe. Bases loaded, McCallister on first, Willis on second, Joey Powell on third. Colby Johnson up next. He put the ball in front of the center fielder, scoring Powell and Willis. Will Roark went in to run for Johnson. When the Princeton pitcher tried to catch Roark off first base, the first baseman wasn’t there to catch the throw. The ball went sailing past Roark, who was trying to get back to first. When Roark saw the ball go by, he turned and ran for second base. McCallister, seeing these developments, headed for home, but when the ball was thrown to the catcher, McCallister turned around to return to third base. He swooped around the third baseman, who was reaching out to tag him, and made it to the base. The umpire in the field called McCallister safe. But the home plate umpire overruled the umpire in the field, saying the tag had been made.
So McCallister was out. Jonathan Carr was up next. He made it to first base, but Roark was tagged out by the Princeton catcher trying to get to home base, for the third out.
In the seventh, Murphy made it to first on a hit to left, before Austin, Shafer and Hood struck out, ending the inning and the game. East won, 5-0.
Greenbrier East is undefeated at home this season. The second game of this series, scheduled for Tuesday evening at Princeton, was cancelled because of rain. It was rescheduled for Wednesday, a day that was also heavy in cloud cover, with occasional light rain.
