Even though mother nature didn’t cooperate early in the night, it was an exciting Appalachian League Opening Day.
Kingsport took down Greeneville 8-3, but the drama came in the Elizabethon-Bluefield contest where the Twins were down to their final out with the bases loaded with outfielder Tyler Webb at the dish. He hammered a pitch to right field, ringing it off the wall, but more importantly securing the 3-2 walk-off win.
The hero of the game had no problem showing patience at the plate.
“I didn’t want to chase something, I wanted to make sure I got my pitch and I stuck with my approach and it came down to that 3-2 and I knew he didn’t want to walk me, so I was sitting fastball and he gave me something up and away and threw a barrel at it.”
Twins manager Ray Smith could tell right away Webb got a hold of the pitch.
“He got a 3-2 cookie, right down Broadway and he smoked it, but we want guys to work to get to those offensive counts, those 2-0, 3-1 counts and if you get a ball in your zone, don’t miss it. Be early, if you yank it in the dugout that’s fine, but just don’t be late on it.