Notes From at South Greene and Hancock

Hampton Bulldog baseball fans had flashbacks to April 5, 2018 on Thursday at South Greene.  If anyone needs a reminder, that is the day that the Johnson County Longhorns scored 17 runs in the top of the 3rd inning at Scotty Bunton Field.  Thursday in Greene County was not that bad, but a 0-0 game quickly became a 10-0 game, as the Rebels from South Green crossed the plate 10 times in the bottom of the 4th inning against our Bulldogs.  We could sugarcoat, but we won't.  It was a nightmare of an inning with routine play after routine play not being made.  Mitchell Tolley did get a hit and draw a walk in his first career Varsity start, and freshman, Morgan Lyons deserved a much better final stat line in his third start on the mound this year.  

The great thing about baseball, is often after a tough loss you have to wait less than 24 hours to attempt to get the bad taste out of your mouth.  A nice team fellowship meal at the Golden Corral in Johnson City, TN, followed by an adventure of a road trip to Hancock County, concluded with a much needed 14-2 win for the visiting Hampton ball club.  Check out the boxscore by clicking on the game on our schedule page for full details, but a batting order put together by Coach Jerry Rouse was a productive one, including a two hit, two run, two stolen base, two RBI game from Morgan Lyons, who Rouse moved up to the cleanup spot in the order from the nine hole he had been hitting in.  The victory at the Indians from Hancock also featured a multi hit game from Tolley, hitting in the nine hole, as Mitchell is not wasting time taking advantage of his opportunity to get more at-bats and time in the OF.  Everyone on the roster was able to get in the game early, and one thing that is obviously clear, is that our bench players are much improved from 2018.  We expect all of our players to contribute when given an opportunity.     

Junior OF, Elijah Smith had an RBI base knock off the bench, Devin Riddle earned his second win of the season in his first career Varsity start on the mound, giving up only two hits, striking out four, walking none.  As we said, check out the boxscore for this or any Bulldog baseball game by clicking on that game on our schedule page.