Green Hill falls one win shy in double shutouts

May 18—NOLENSVILLE — Needing one win in two tries for its first trip to state, Green Hill didn't even score a run Thursday as Nolensville threw two dominant pitchers at the Hawks to overtake the visitors 2-0 and 1-0 to win the sectional 2 games to 1.

The Hawks had chances in the first game against Chase Clatur, leaving seven runners on base, six in bases-loaded situations in the first and fifth innings. They didn't even have many chances in the nightcap against Dawson Sweeney, who held them to three hits as Green Hill completed a 27-11 season.

Then there was Green Hill pitcher Joey Greenstreet, who took the hard-luck losses in both games. He relieved starter Micah Summar in the seventh of a scoreless opener and gave up both runs on RBI singles by Kael Barney and Kyson Barney.

Greenstreet then started the second game and gave up the only run in the contest on Nathan Dunworth's RBI double. Greenstreet surrendered five hits and no walks while striking out three in five innings before Liam Bowles pitched the sixth. Summar surrendered two hits and a walk in six innings while fanning four.

"Pitching's carried us all year and defense on top of that," Justin Alberson said at the end of his second season as Green Hill's coach. "Those guys have done a phenomenal job.

"We had plenty of situations and plenty of opportunities to get the big hit and we just couldn't get it a done. But a testament to Nolensville and their arms. They are good pitchers and they battled and got themselves out of trouble. We just couldn't come through."

Clatur gave up four hits and four walks while striking out eight. Sweeney walked two and whiffed 10 as Nolensville advanced to the state with a 31-9 mark.

Green Hill's Landon Dalton doubled late in the second game, only to be called out for missing first base. That was one of several frustrating turn of events in the final few innings of the nightcap. Dom Waller was tagged out after oversliding second base on a seventh-inning steal.

In the first game, Grayson Beasley had two hits while Greenstreet doubled.

The games marked the end of the first four-year careers for six Green Hill seniors who helped the Hawks reach the round of 16 both seasons under Alberson.

"They left a good foundation for years to come," Alberson said. "Hopefully our younger guys look up to how hard they worked and everything else and...they left a legacy to be proud of."

Hawks advance to within one win of state

Green Hill pushed to within a win of state with a come-from-behind 6-4 win Wednesday night.

The Hawks scored four times in the top of the seventh inning.

Liam Bowles relieved starter Corbin Craver with two out in the fifth inning, gave up a hit and got the final out, putting himself in position to get the win. Joey Greenstreet struck out two in retiring the Knights in order in the bottom of the seventh for the save.

Green Hill built a 2-0 lead midway through the third inning before Nolensville got a run in the bottom half and went up 4-2 with three in the fourth. Craver gave up four runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

The Hawks finished with five hits, including two singles by leadoff batter Gabe Gray.

Friendship falls one win of DII's final four

CHATTANOOGA — Boyd Buchanan got to Friendship Christian's best pitcher Thursday as the Buccaneers reached Division II's final four with a 7-2 win in the rubber match of a best-of-3 quarterfinal.

The Bucs scored five times in the third inning and tacked on one more in the fourth off Quin Long, who finished his senior season 6-2.

Hayden Holleman held Boyd Buchanan to a run the final two frames. But Friendship could only get two runs in the fifth on RBIs by Long and Mason Hallum as the Commanders returned home with a final 30-14-1 mark.

The Bucs outhit Friendship 8-7. Holleman and Elijah Stockton had two hits apiece for the Commanders.

Boyd Buchanan coach Stephen Pryor, a key pitcher in Friendship's 2007 championship, now gets a chance with the Bucs, who will bring a 33-5 record to Murfreesboro next week.

Long's walk off HR sends Friendship to rubber match

A change in the schedule for the best-of-3 Division II state quarterfinal series left Friendship Christian ace Quin Long ineligible to pitch in either of Wednesday's two games.

But it didn't keep him from swinging the bat. And his three-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh inning forced the "if necessary" game Thursday, when he could take the mound again, as the Commanders evened the series with an 8-6 win over host Boyd Buchanan.

Long threw 108 pitches last Saturday in Friendship's 14-inning win over First Assembly Christian, meaning that by TSSAA's pitch-count policy, he had to have four days of rest before pitching again. Wednesday was the fourth day.

All of Friendship's runs came on four homers — by Long, Elijah Stockton, Will Barnwell and Hayden Holleman — as the Commanders cracked 10 hits. Stockton and Long had two hits each while Barnwell also drove in three runs on his third-inning blast as FCS jumped to a 4-0 lead. Luke Sellars had a double in his only trip to the plate.

Boyd Buchanan got a run in the fourth and five in the fifth to go up 6-4. The Commanders climbed to within a run in the bottom of the fifth.

Barnwell pitched the final 2 1/3 innings in relief of starter Ayden Moore to improve to 5-2. Barnwell gave up no runs on one hit and three walks. Moore, who threw 94 pitches last Saturday (but needed just three days rest as four days don't kick in until 106), gave up six runs on 10 hits and two walks in 4 2/3 frames.

Boyd Buchanan took a 2-0 lead in the third inning of the first game off starter Bradyn Stringer (3-2, 1.41 earned-run average) and gradually built the lead with two in the fifth off reliever Sam Duckwiler before blowing it open with three in the sixth off Stockton, finishing with five hits.

Buccaneers coach Stephen Pryor, a 2007 FCS grad who was a key pitcher on the Commanders' state championship team that season before becoming Friendship's only major-league player to date, sent his ace, Mr. Baseball finalist Cooper Jones to the mound. Jones improved to 7-0 by allowing two runs (one earned) on four this and three walks with seven strikeouts in a seven-inning complete game.

One of those hits was Holleman's seventh home run of the season in the fourth inning. He also singled while D. Boone doubled.

Commander coach John McNeal told his players on the field following last Saturday's marathon win they would play one game Wednesday and, if necessary, two Thursday, as he and Pryor agreed upon before the game. But after the extended game, Boyd-Buchanan notified FCS there would be two games Wednesday.