South Knoxville News

Maryville made its first opening day at home in six years a smashing success with a doubleheader sweep of Eastern Mennonite here Saturday.
 
Zac Graham, Hunter Thaxton and Gabriel Lopez all homered for the Scots in a 15-4 first game win, and then Graham cleared the wall in left for a second time during Maryville's 7-2 triumph in the nightcap.
 
The Scots went 16-4 at home last year and are playing .656 ball at Scotland Yard since 2012.
 
"We like playing here at the Yard," Maryville head coach Clint Helton said. "It's a comfortable place to play and we do play well here at home. Opening Day can be a lot of excitement, which it was, but we were able to stay within our excitement and execute when we needed to."
 
MC as a team batted .373 for the day and scored in eight of its first nine turns at bat. Maryville put runs on the board in all six frames in the opener before the game was halted in the middle of the seventh by the 10-run rule. Game 2 was a scheduled seven-inning game because of impending rain. 

11 Total Bases
Graham finished with 11 total bases and seven RBIs in the twin bill, blasting his two home runs and adding three singles in eight trips to the plate. Christian Carlton hitting right behind Graham was a combined 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles, while Thaxton finished 4-for-7 with five RBIs and eight total bases.
 
Lopez and Jacob Johnston both had three-hit afternoons.
 
Graham's first home run accounted for the first two runs of the season in the bottom of the first of Game 1. Thaxton homered halfway up the pine trees in right to highlight a four-run fifth, and then Lopez closed out the scoring with a three-run shot to left in the sixth.
 
In Game 2, Graham connected again in the first, this time with two aboard for a 3-0 MC advantage. Jimmy Meredith laced a two-run double down the line in left to push the Scots in front 5-1 in the third, and they coasted from there. 

Leonhardt, Timko Earn Victories
Maryville starting pitchers Bryce Leonhardt and Kyle Timko grabbed the pitching victories. Leonhardt started Game 1 and went four innings, scattering four hits and allowing just one earned run. He struck out three before giving way to Tommy Musuras, who hurled shutout ball over the final three frames with four strikeouts.
 
In Game 2, Timko went 4 1/3 innings and scattered five hits. He allowed just one earned run and struck out a pair. Chris Arbuthnot, Nick Mirabella and Xavier Resto blanked the Royals over the final 2 2/3 innings, with each allowing just one hit. 

'Quality At Bats'
"Offensively, we kept getting guys on base and kept getting quality at bats," Helton said. "That's our philosophy: Stay on the gas. In Game 2, we scored early again and really just had two big innings before they brought in some guys who pitched well for them.
 
"Our pitchers threw the ball well. We had a freshman get his first pitching win, Mirabella got back out there after an injury last year and we used a lot of guys out of the pen. It was a good day."
 
For Eastern Mennonite, which also was opening its 2023 season, Jason Dwyer was 3-for-3 in the second game. Logan Mason, Ethan Spraker and Nick Arnold all combined for three hits in the doubleheader.
 
Game 3 of the series is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. (Note: Game 3 was later rained out and is not being rescheduled).

Pregame Toss: Maryville Director of Athletics Sara Quatrocky threw out the first pitch prior to Saturday's doubleheader. It was a strike. 

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