River Turtles win opener, 6-3

river turtlesBy MIKE WILLIAMS

Patriot Publishing

 

The 2024 Appalachian League season got off to a rousing start Tuesday in Huntington, W.Va. for the Pulaski River Turtles, who knocked off league newcomer Tri-State Coal Cats, 6-3.

Pulaski led from the beginning, with Seth Buchanan (Lebanon, Va.) scoring on an Austen Jaslove (Knoxville, Tenn.) groundball single to center.

The River Turtles broke the game open in the top half of the fourth inning, scoring three runs.

Austyn Winkleblech’s (Canonsburg, Pa.) single to center scored Joe Kinneberg (Sandy, UT) for one run.  Mason Self (Christiansburg, Va.) scored on a groundout to short for the second run of the inning.

Winkleblech then scored the third run on a wild pitch by the Coal Cats’ pitcher.

Jaslove and Winkleblech were 2-of-4 at the plate to lead the River Turtles.

Nate Gray (Queen Creek, AZ) started for Pulaski, going three innings before giving way to Jack Garvey (Fort Myers, FL) who got the win after hurling three innings of one hit ball. That one hit was all the Coal Cats could muster against River Turtle pitching.

Justin Mayes (Clearwater, FL) pitched the last inning for the save. Mayes struck out two of the three batters he faced.

The game lasted a whopping three hours and eight minutes thanks to a 30-minute delay.

The opening day crowd in Huntington drew 1,345 fans.