The Elizabethton baseball had just enough to hold off an upset-minded Claiborne County squad.
The Cyclones advanced to the Region 1-AA Championship game with a 5-4 victory over the Bulldogs on Monday night at Joe O’Brien Field after Jacob Mullins scored off an error in the sixth inning.
With the win, Elizabethton will take on the winner of Tuesday’s Greeneville-Sullivan South game on Wednesday in the Championship game.
The Cyclones also secured a berth in the Class AA substate that is slated for Friday.
After a scoreless first inning, Elizabethton struck first in the home side of the second inning.
Nico Ashley hit a sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Lawson Wagner to tag up and score, while Karson Dillard pushed Jacob Mullins across the plate at the next at-bat. Cooper Tipton capped the inning by scoring on an error to give Elizabethton a 3-0 lead.
Claiborne answered back in the fifth inning as the Bulldogs plated four runs to take their first lead of the game.
Bryson Rollins, however, answered for Elizabethton as his single allowed Jaden Anderson to score the tying run. In the sixth inning, the Cyclones saw Mullins work his way around the bases and he scored on an errant throw.
Dillard had two hits to lead EHS at the plate, while Rollins and Wagner had one hit each.
On the mound, Evan Carter allowed just four unearned runs on six hits with four strikeouts in six innings of work. Wagner picked up the save as he struck two out of three batters out he faced to secure the win.
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