Make no mistake about it, the Northeastern Knights baseball team is for real.
For 19 of the last 20 seasons, the road to the Tri-Eastern conference baseball title has gone through Centerville, Hagerstown or Liberty. Thursday, the Knights, who last won the title in 2003, made a move to reroute the path to the title with an exciting 6-5 come-from-behind win over Union County in a game played in Liberty.
The teams traded leads early and were tied at 3-3 after three innings, The Patriots retook the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth before the Knights started to reel them in. The Knights scored a single run in the top of the fifth and added two more runs in the top of the seventh to take the lead for good.
The Patriots loaded the bases, with only one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, before Logan White fielded a low-line drive and executed a double play to end the game.
Kaiden White and Justice Hollingsworth each had two hits for the Knights. Treydon York had two RBI’s including the go-ahead run. Justice Hollingsworth also drove two runs for the winners. Kaiden White pitched four innings in relief of starter Landen Sum to get credit for the win.
With the win, the Knights remain the only unbeaten Wayne County baseball team and are tied at the top of the TEC standings with Hagerstown and Union City.
Northeastern (5-0, 1-0 TEC) 1 0 2 0 1 0 2 6
Union County (3-3, 1-1 TEC) 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 5
Northeastern hits: Kaiden White (2), Hollingworth (2), Logan White, York – Union County hits: Eric Burdine, Kyle Sams (3), Devyn Shepherd (2), Mason Stewart (2), Colton Wicker (2), Brady Woeste.
A version of this article appeared in the April 19 2023 print edition of the Western Wayne News.