The fireworks came late Tuesday evening for the Clarksville WhirlyBirdz. Clarksville scored the final nine runs of the game over the final three innings as they came from four runs down to pick up a 14-9 win over the home-standing Hoptown Hoppers.
The Hoppers took advantage of two Clarksville errors to take an early lead in the contest. After two WhirlyBirdz to open the bottom of the second, Hoptown plated four runs to go up 4-0. The big hit in the inning was a two-run blast to right by Artem Logvinov.
Clarksville came right back in the top of the third to score three runs. One coming on a bases-loaded walk. The other two came on an infield error by the Hoppers.
The WhirlyBirdz moved to the lead in the top of the fourth, scoring two more runs to take a 5-4 lead. One scored on a double play while the other scored on another Hopper error. The inning started with Hopper pitching loading the bases on a walk, a hit batter, and another walk.
The bottom half of the fourth saw the Hoppers come back and this time it was the Clarksville pitching that struggled. Four straight walks with one out evened the game up at 5-5. A wild pitch allowed the Hoppers to take the lead back at 6-5. Another walk and the lead grew to 7-5.
The Hoppers extended the lead with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Robert Estrada lead off the inning with a double and then scored when former Caldwell County Tiger Tate VanHooser cleared the fence in center to run the Hoptown lead out to 9-5.
From there it was all the WhirlyBirdz. Clarksville took advantage of Hopper pitching difficulties to plate three runs in the seventh. The WhirlyBirdz were the beneficiaries of four walks and a hit batter in the inning.
Clarksville evened the game up in the top of the 8th on a home run from C. Mulchaly. The WhirlyBirdz then completed their comeback by scoring five runs in the top of the ninth. The big blow in the inning was a two-run homer off the bat of Blake Merwin.
The WhirlyBirdz scored their 14 runs on just nine hits. They were able to take full advantage of five Hopper errors, 11 walks, and three hit batters.
For Hoptown, Robert Estrada was 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Artem Logvinov ended up 2-3 with a home run, a double, two RBIs, and two runs scored.
