GREEN RIVER — The Green River Knights are one win away from playing for a state championship.
Green River continued its remarkable run through the loser’s bracket of the Wyoming American Legion Division II State Tournament on Saturday, rallying from a three-run deficit before walking off Riverton 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning to advance to the semifinals.
The victory came 24 hours after the Knights kept their season alive with an elimination-game win over Wheatland, giving Green River consecutive postseason victories on its home field.
The Knights opened the game by retiring Riverton in order with two groundouts and a fly out before Oliver Akin lined a leadoff single to right field in the bottom of the first. Green River was unable to capitalize after Akin was caught stealing, followed by a fly out and a strikeout.
Riverton struck first in the second inning when Jon Cox singled home Addison Trujillo for a 1-0 lead.
Green River answered in the bottom half of the inning. Brylan Ginestar hit a ground-ball single that scored Davy Puckett and moved Travin Brown to third with two outs. Moments later, Brown stole home to give the Knights a 2-1 advantage before the inning came to a close.
The Raiders tied the game in the third on Brayden Martin’s RBI single before taking control an inning later. Brayden Baker launched a three-run home run to center field, scoring Carson Trujillo and Colter Hekkila to put Riverton in front 5-2.
From there, Green River’s pitching settled in.
The Knights did not allow another run the rest of the game, giving the offense a chance to climb back.
Ginestar drove in Sam Dockter with an RBI single in the fourth to trim the deficit to 5-3, and the comeback continued in the sixth.
Puckett opened the inning with a walk before Brown was hit by a pitch. After a pitching change, Dockter advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Ginestar followed with a groundout that brought Puckett home to make it 5-4.
That brought the lineup back to the top, and Akin delivered. His infield single to shortstop plated Brown with the tying run, knotting the game at 5-5 heading into the final inning.
Puckett, who entered in relief during the fourth inning, kept the momentum on Green River’s side. After recording two fly-ball outs in the seventh, he worked around a two-out walk by striking out the final Riverton batter to send the game to the bottom of the inning still tied.
With the home crowd behind the team, Aiden Mandros grounded out to open the seventh before Landon Smart reached on an error. Korbin Nielson followed with a line-drive single to right, putting runners at first and second with one out.
After a wild pitch moved Smart to third and Nielson to second, the Knights turned to a squeeze play with Puckett at the plate.
Puckett and Smart executed it perfectly.
He laid down the sacrifice bunt as Smart broke for the plate, forcing the defense to make a play. Smart slid home safely with the winning run, setting off a celebration as Green River completed the 6-5 walk-off victory to advance to the tournament semifinals.
Ginestar sparked the offense with three RBIs, while Akin delivered two hits, including the game-tying RBI in the sixth. Puckett contributed both on the mound and at the plate, earning the win in relief before executing the game-winning squeeze bunt.
Green River will continue its run through the loser’s bracket Sunday at 4 p.m., when the Knights face the loser of Saturday’s Cody-Lovell matchup in the semifinals. Because they remain in the loser’s bracket, the Knights must win their semifinal and then defeat the unbeaten bracket champion twice to capture the Division II state title.
