Axmen comeback effort falls short against Flyboys

The Flyboys used a six-run sixth to earn a 9-8 road win to open the weekend. Kingsport (22-15) struck first in the bottom of the first, as Garrett Luett grounded a ball through the left side of the infield to drive home Antonio Fawcett from second base. That was all the scoring for a while as the game settled into a rare Appy League pitchers' duel for the middle innings. Seth Farni got the start for the Axmen, going four-plus innings and allowing just one hit and two walks with four strikeouts. For the Flyboys (16-19), Dillon Kirksey settled in after allowing the first inning run. He didn't allow a run from the second until the sixth inning. Greeneville got a sixth-inning leadoff home run to right field off the bat of Matthew Kerrigan to tie the game at 1-1. The Flyboys then took the lead later in the frame, as one run scored on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded and two more came home on an infield single and throwing error. Nelson Grajales-Vazquez blew the game open with a two-run shot to left. In the sixth inning, Greeneville totaled six runs on four hits, two walks and two hit by pitches to take a 6-1 lead. Kingsport answered back in the bottom half of the frame, finally breaking through against Kirksey. A wild pitch plated one, Jacob Parr hit a run-scoring double, Trey Jozwiakowski singled home one, and Farni drove in one with a hit to cut the deficit to one. The Flyboys were able to add an insurance run in the top of the seventh courtesy of a Levi Pinder groundout. Two more runs scored in the eighth on two hits and an error. The Axmen had life in the bottom of the ninth, grabbing one run on a Luett sacrifice fly, another on a pickoff throwing error, and a third on a Parr RBI double. However, the tying run was left stranded. Kerrigan and Grajales-Vazquez each had a pair of hits for the Flyboys. Fawcett, Parr, Luett, and Farni all had two hits for the Axmen. Up Next The Axmen and Flyboys will play the second game of their series on Saturday in Greeneville.