They made it tougher than it probably should have been, but at the end of the day, the Greenbrier East Spartans are moving on, and their biggest rivals are not.
Greenbrier East stole the lead late in a back-and-forth contest, and defeated Woodrow Wilson 12-8 in extra innings on Tuesday, May 10, in Beckley.
The game was tied at 7-all with the Spartans batting in the top of the eighth when Clayton Morgan singled on the first pitch of the at-bat and scored Gabe Patton. That opened the flood gates as East would get four additional runs in the frame to seal the deal. Ian Cline had an RBI single, Ashton Cochran got a 2-run base hit and Gavin Bennett laid down a sacrifice which scored the final run.
The Spartans were in complete control of the game and led 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh, but Woodrow Wilson’s big inning gave them five runs to tie it up. The Eagles were rallied by singles from Chase Tolliver and Blake Stratton and an error on a ball put in play by Reid Warden.
After Greenbrier East scored one run in the top of the sixth, the Eagles answered with one of their own.
Chris Heaster had a sac fly for East, but the Eagles then answered when Logan Williams singled on a 1-0 count, and drove in a run.
Patton was credited with the victory for Greenbrier East.
The righty allowed three hits and three runs over two innings, striking out two.
Travis Daniel took the loss for Woodrow Wilson. He surrendered four runs on three hits over 0.1 innings.
Darris Boswell started the game for the Spartans. He gave up five runs on ten hits over six innings. He struck out six.
Greenbrier East racked up 12 hits on the day.
Bennett, Morgan, Cline, Cochran, and Patton each had multiple hits.
Cochran had three RBIs. Cline and Boswell each had two.
Woodrow Wilson tallied 13 hits.
Tolliver, Stratton, Daniel Dickenson, Warden, and Williams all got in the hit column.
Tolliver led Woodrow Wilson with three hits in five at bats.
East plays Princeton tonight, Wednesday May 11 in the next round of sectional play.
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