By Ken Lay

When Buzz McNish took the reins of the Fulton High School baseball program, he knew he had a major rebuilding job on his hands.

In addition, he had to change the culture and purge the program.

"We ran some people off," said McNish, who previously coached at West High and Lenoir City. "We had some people who didn't know if they wanted to make a commitment and we decided that we were going to help them make a decision.

"And because of that, we're not going to have a senior on the (2024) roster."

Things were hard for the Falcons in 2023 as they went 7-23 overall and 2-6 in District 5-3A.

But now, it's on to the next step as the Falcons, competing as the Knoxville Falcons are playing in a summer high school league against teams from Maryville Christian, Heritage, Clinton, Anderson County, Gibbs and others.

The primary goal is to gain some valuable game time against some up-and-coming high school baseball programs, and on Thursday night, Knoxville hosted the River City River Boys at Larry Cox Field on the campus of Christenberry Elementary School and it was a tough night as the Falcons were swept in the twin bill by the River Boys, who hail from Clinton and are coming off a regular-season District 4-3A tri-championship as they split the title last spring with Halls and crosstown rival Anderson County (which is competing this summer as the Coal Creek Bulls) and Halls.

The Falcons lost Thursday night's opening five-inning game to the River Boys, 10-0, as they managed only one hit against River City pitcher Garrett Lee. The hit was a two-out single by junior utility player Maddox Myers, who can pitch, catch and play both corner infield positions.

McNish had to know that his team could be in for a long late afternoon and evening.

"We're playing with some young pups tonight," he said. "We have a lot of players who are gone.

"(But) this is important. These guys have to play in the summer because these guys haven't played a lot of baseball. You know that you're going to get smacked around, but it's about getting these guys better by the time they're juniors and seniors."

In the nightcap, River City notched an 11-1 win, but the River Boys were locked in a tight 3-1 game before River City plated eight runs in the top of the fifth.

The Falcons had five hits in the finale as Logan Massengill had two hits and drove in the Falcons lone run of the night in the bottom of the third inning.

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