AFTON — The Greeneville Greene Devils took another step toward repeating as state champions with a 4-2 win over the Cherokee Chiefs in the District 2-3A quarterfinals on Thursday at Tusculum University’s Pioneer Park.
Greeneville (19-12) was slated to play the winner of a Friday elimination game between Cherokee (18-13) and Volunteer (17-15) in the district championship game on Friday night at Pioneer Park.
The Greene Devils also punched their ticket to the Region 1-3A tournament with their fourth win against Cherokee this season on Thursday.
“It’s hard to beat a team four times in one season, I don’t care what level you play,” Greeneville coach Andy Collins said. “It’s hard to do that but very proud of our guys to battle and hang in there. I don’t think a whole lot of things went our way and I think that shows the character of a lot of these guys.
“Now we are playing in the region, regardless of what happens. That’s obviously a goal. We’d like to come back and win the championship at this district, but that’s how big tonight was.”
With the region tourney on the horizon, the Devils hope to find a bit more offense. On the other side of the ball, though, they’ve made just three errors in their two district games, two against Volunteer and one against Cherokee.
While Greeneville played pretty clean baseball, Cherokee committed seven errors.
After a scoreless opening inning, the Devils took advantage of sloppy fielding from the Chiefs.
Will Harmon led off the bottom of the second, reaching first on an error. Jack Lister replaced Harmon on the bases and reached second and third after another error by the Cherokee infield. Eli House hit a ground ball, reaching on another error and scoring Lister for the game’s first run.
Cherokee tied the game 1-1 in the fourth on a Gage Adkins RBI single to left field.
Greeneville scored three runs in the fifth for a 4-1 lead.
Maddox Bishop tripled to right and scored on a line drive single to left by Carson Quillen to make it 2-1.
Quillen then made his way around the bases thanks to three consecutive errors.
He stole second, but the throw was off and he was able to take third as well, where that throw was also off its mark. He took advantage of another loose ball and scampered home, beating the throw to make it 3-1.
Kaine Ricker scored similarly. After working a walk, he stole second and took third on a throwing error, and then came home on a wild pitch to make it 4-1.
“I think we ended up with seven hits, but I think we battled through some at bats there,” Collins said. “And when you get Maddox and Carson and Kaine on the bases, it can change the complexion of the game entirely. And it did. That was huge.”
Cherokee was able to add a run in the sixth, but solid pitching from Harmon and sound defense closed the game.
Harmon went the distance. In seven innings, he gave up four hits, walked two and struck out six.
“I liked his adjustments, and that was a game of adjustments,” Collins said of Harmon’s pitching. “That’s something that we’ve walked with Will all year and he did a great job. The adjustments that he made were almost pitch to pitch. I think that says a lot about him.
“Once you get past 25, 50 (pitches), then you’re sitting there thinking, ‘OK, he better take us all the way.’ And that’s what he did. We’ve got arms and they’re going to have to throw in the next few days and Will allowed that to happen.”
Bishop and Noah Murray were both 2-for-3 and Quillen was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Colton Richards and House each had one hit.
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