Disastrous first inning dooms Flyboys against Burlington

BURLINGTON, N.C. – After scoring seven runs in the first inning, the Burlington Sock Puppets held off the Greeneville Flyboys, taking the contest with an 11-5 victory Saturday.

The scoring started for Burlington (24-8) after a Ryan McCrystal (ECU) two-run double made it a 2-0 Sock Puppet lead in the bottom of the first. Two batters later, Tony Castonguay (Kansas) brought home two more runs with a two-run single, pushing the advantage to 4-0. A Brogan Napier (UCF) triple brought home two more mores in the opening frame, making it a 6-0 game. Napier came home to score during the next at-bat after a passed ball by Cameron LaLiberte (Arizona) and gave Burlington a 7-0 lead after just one inning of play.

After loading the bases, the Sock Puppets scored again in the bottom of the second thanks to back-to-back RBI ground outs by JC Colon (Missouri) and Castonguay, giving Burlington a 9-0 lead.

The scoring continued for the Puppets in the bottom of the third, after a McCrystal RBI single brought home Dante Girardi (FIU) and gave Burlington a 10-0 lead.

The Flyboys (16-16) finally answered in the top of the fourth after LaLiberte hammered his first home run of the season over the left-field wall, a two-run shot that cut the lead to 10-2. After reaching on a double, Alex Diaz (Cloud County CC) came around to score on a sac fly by Aidan Cannaday (Catawba Valley CC) to make it 10-3.

With one swing of the bat in the bottom of the fourth, Ethan Lizama (Gulf Coast JC) gave the momentum back to Burlington with a solo shot, his fifth homer of the season and giving Burlington an 11-3 lead.

Diaz came through again for the Flyboys in the top of the sixth, bringing home Jack O’Reilly (Villanova) with an RBI single, making it 11-4.

In the top of the seventh, Cannaday scored off an error by Colon, but that’s as close as the Flyboys would get, falling to Burlington 11-5.

McCrystal led the Sock Puppets on offense, going 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored.

Justin Honeycutt (UNC Asheville) (2-1) earns the win, going five innings, giving up three runs, only one of those being earned, off four hits and striking out five. Thomas Ross (Georgia Southern) went three innings, giving up two runs, one of which was earned, off four hits, walking two and striking out one. David Harrison (NC State) closed out the game for the Sock Puppets, walking one and striking out another batter in the ninth.

Carson Jacobs (Gateway CC) (1-2) was handed the loss, lasting just 0.1 of an inning, giving up seven runs off six hits and striking out one. Ryan Schiefer (GCU) went 3.2 innings, allowing four runs, two of those being earned, off four hits, striking out five. Graham Breite (St. Charles CC) went three innings, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out a pair. Seth Whitley (Appalachian State) made his Appy League debut, walking one and striking out two in the eighth inning.

The Flyboys and the Sock Puppets conclude their two-game set Sunday, July 10, with a seven-inning contest. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Fans unable to make the trek to the Tarheel State can tune into a radio broadcast for free beginning at 5:45 p.m. at flyboysbaseball.com.