River Turtles rout Greeneville, 11-4

The Pulaski River Turtles took a commanding 11-4 victory over the Greeneville Flyboys Wednesday night.

The River Turtles now stand at 13-10, and still stand at second in the East in the standings. The Flyboys fall to 15-9 but are still atop the West, a half-game ahead of the Bristol State Liners.

A 3-run second inning put the River Turtles up early, thanks to an RBI single by Mark Trotta and a 2-run homer by John Bay, his sixth of the season.

A 4-run top of the fourth let the Flyboys take the lead, but the River Turtles didn’t take long to answer back. In the bottom of the fourth, a 2-run home run to left-center field by Jackson Beaman put Pulaski back up 5-4.

Three straight scoreless innings kept the game close, but a 6-run eighth inning from Pulaski blew the game wide open. A 2-run moonshot by Garrett Rice broke open the floodgates and made the game 7-4. An E5 brought in another run and made the score 8-4. And finally, back-to-back homers, a 2-run by Conner Gore and a 1-run by Cameron Leary, allowed the River Turtles to take a commanding 11-4 lead.

Winner on the mound goes to Lucas Reed, going 4 innings, allowing only one hit, and striking out eight. The loss goes to Connor Harris, going 4 innings, allowing six hits and five runs.

Player of the game goes to Mark Trotta, as he went 3-4, had two runs, and batted in one runner.

The River Turtles look to build on this strong win as they now go to Bluefield to face the Ridge Runners on Thursday and Friday before returning home Saturday to face Princeton.

By KYLE MANALO