KINGS MILL – Greenville American Legion Post 140 Thunder 18U baseball team earned a 5-0 win over Flash Gold 18U with Bryce Blumenstock tossing a two-hit complete game 81-pitch shutout for the win.
“Bryce had two weeks off and came back with walking pneumonia,” said Post 140 coach Chad Henry. “He hadn’t had a lot of activity, and we were hoping to get two innings out of him. We were short guys because of graduation.”
“He comes out and enters the seventh inning with 65 pitches,” Henry continued. “He threw a complete game shutout and struck out nine guys. Everything you could ask for.”
Post 140 opened the top of the second with two quick outs before Layne Hocker singled hard to center, followed by a Seth Kiser walk and an Adam Edwards single to left, filling the bases. Owen Mcgreevey coaxed a run-scoring walk giving Greenville American Legion a 1-0 lead.
Greenville tacked on two runs in the top of the fourth, again with the first two batters of the inning hitting for outs. Edwards took a full-count walk, McGreevey legged out an infield single, and Braeden Wills walked, loading the bases and bringing a pitching change for Flash Gold.
Bryce Kramer collected an RBI with a walk, and Mcgreevey raced home on a passed ball, giving Post 140 a 3-0 advantage with Flash Gold coming to the plate in the bottom of the fourth.
Greenville Legion added two insurance runs at the top of the seventh, with Wills leading off with a single to the right. A Kramer walk and a run-scoring double off the bat of Vance Taylor on a liner to left, and Ashton Skaggs plating the second run of the inning with a single to left, gave Greenville American Legion Post 140 a 5-0 lead that would hold up for the final score of the game.
Following the Saturday win, Bloomenstock, a 2024 Greenville senior, capped off the day by graduating with his Greenville Senior High School classmates.
“I can’t imagine a better situation to go and have graduation – he shows up complete game shutout and goes home and graduates,” said Coach Henry. “Couldn’t ask for a better situation than that.”
“Great start to the season,” Henry concluded. “Got us off on the right foot.”
BOX SCORE
123 456 7 R H E
010 200 2 5 6 1 GREENVILLE
000 000 0 0 2 3 Flash Gold
