Goshen Eagls fall to the Greenville Tigers 7-3
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, March 15, 2016
An outfield collision left a Goshen player with a broken leg on Monday as the Eagles fell to Greenville 7-3.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first two innings, Eagle centerfielder Cory Peterson and left-fielder Braxton Stewart collided as they both attempted to catch a fly ball to left center. Stewart was sent to the hospital, and coaches said later he had sustained a broken leg.
The incident rocked the Eagles. “When something like that happens to one of your senior leaders … ,” said Eagles head coach Robby Kinsaul. “We will be praying for him.”
Kinsaul said coaches tried to focus the players after the incident. “It’s no different than in life,” he said. “One thing that we try to teach them is that they are going to face adversity.”
However, the Tigers capitalized on the lead off triple and scored three runs in the inning to go up 5-0.
The Eagles came back to the dugout with a sense of urgency and got back into the game with a three-run third. Jackson Kyzer lead off the inning with a base hit and was followed by a pair of walks by Peterson and Landon Wilks. Bailey Singleton hit a sacrifice fly to score Peterson. Then J.P. Steele singled scoring Brock Snyder and Hunter Williams doubled scoring Steele.
“One thing I wanted to see them do is see pitches,” Kinsaul said. “They kept swinging at the first pitch and getting out. I thought we needed to be a little more patient at the plate, and that seemed to help us out.”
The Tigers led off the inning with a towering home run to left field and followed it up with three consecutive singles to take a 7-3 lead into the sixth.
The Eagles finished with five hits on the night by Stewart, Kyzer, Steele, Hunter Williams and Bailey Singleton.
The Eagles will begin area play later this afternoon when they host Zion Chapel in a double-header beginning at 4:30 p.m.