.jpg)
Wednesday, March 22 – Facing strong hitting and pitching, the Rockbridge County High School baseball team suffered a 9-3 home loss to undefeated Alleghany in nondistrict action on Wednesday evening in Lexington.
Alleghany (4-0), a Class 2 state quarterfinalist last year, jumped out to a 4-0 run in the first inning and stayed comfortably ahead for the rest of the game. The Mountaineers racked up 11 hits, while the Wildcats (1-3), who are in Class 3 with larger schools, had seven hits.
On the mound for Alleghany, Halen Lowman pitched the first five innings, striking out 11 and allowing four hits, two walks and one unearned run. In the final two innings, Anthony Webb struck out one and permitted three hits, no walks and two unearned runs.
For RC, junior Sean Martino pitched the first 5.2 innings, striking out six and allowing nine hits, two walks and eight runs (seven earned). In the final 1.1 innings, freshman Brady Majors gave up two hits, one walk and one earned run.
Alleghany scored its first run in the first when Connor McPeek grounded out to second base to bring home Elijah Weese. The Mountaineers extended their lead to 2-0 when Garrett Via scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Webb. Alleghany added two more runs when Hunter DePriest doubled on a fly ball to center field.
In the bottom of the first, RC’s Clay Irvine singled on a grounder to shortstop, and Derek Smith singled on a line drive to left field to drive home Irvine, cutting Alleghany’s lead to 4-1.
Alleghany extended its lead to 5-1 in the second on a sacrifice fly to center field by Via. With Martino’s pitching and strong fielding, including several impressive catches in center field by Cohen Paxton, the Wildcats kept the Mountaineers scoreless in the next three innings.
In the sixth, Alleghany’s bats came alive again, and the Mountaineers scored three runs to extend their lead to 8-1. Those runs came on a groundout by Dalton Griffith, a double by McPeek, and a single by Via. Alleghany scored its final in the seventh when Webb ran home on a wild pitch.
With two outs left in the bottom of the seventh, Paxton doubled on a fly ball to right field, bringing home Irvine and Smith, but Paxton was tagged out trying to reach third base.
Smith and Thomas Armstrong led the Wildcats with two hits each, while Paxton recorded one hit and two RBIs. Pacing Alleghany with two hits each were Weese, McPeek, Via, DePriest and Wyatt Griffith.
The Wildcats are scheduled to play a nondistrict home game against James River on Friday at 5 p.m.
For the full story on this week’s action, with photos from Wednesday’s game, please see our March 29 newspaper.
