GREENVILLE – The Greenville Thunder Junior 17U baseball team coasted to a 12-11 victory over the visiting Dayton Classics in a Tuesday night game marred by sloppy play from both teams at Sater Heights Park.
“It was a little closer than I thought it should have been but at the end a win is a win,” said Greenville 17U coach Austin Baumgardner. “Ugly or not – we still got it done.
The visitors jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first only to have Greenville put five runs on the board to lead 5-1 after one complete.
The Classics tacked on a single run in the top of the second to trail 5-2 with the local Thunder team adding two runs in the bottom of the second to up their lead to 7-2 with two innings in the book.
Greenville scored a run in the bottom of the third pushing its lead to 8-2 before the Classics plated three runs in the top of the fifth. The Greenville Thunder dented the board for four runs in the bottom of the fifth extending their lead to 12-5 after five complete.
Greenville would not score again but the visitors made it three consecutive 3-run innings adding 3-runs in both the top of the sixth and seventh innings to pull within a run at 11-12 and two down in top of the seventh with Seth Delk on the mound in relief for the Thunder.
With runners on second and third, Delk coaxed a popup to first bringing the third out to give the Greenville Thunder 17U a home win.
“I can always count on Delk to throw strikes,” Coach Baumgardner stated. “They hit him a little bit but at the end of the day our defense got the job done so it’s a good win. A win is a win.”
