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Led by strong pitching and hitting, the Rockbridge County High School baseball team won two road games early last week, defeating Staunton 8-6 last Monday before earning a 10-1 win over Harrisonburg in the Valley District opener last Tuesday.
The Wildcats would fall to 4-5 with a 6-5 loss at Parry McCluer on Friday. (see separate story) RC head coach Travis Roadcap said the Wildcats “definitely had two solid starting performances on the mound” from Tucker Entsminger against Staunton and Cohen Paxton against Harrisonburg. Roadcap added that both pitchers could have thrown complete games, but the coaches had to pull them due to the pitch count rules and the fact that the Wildcats had three games last week.
With the win over Staunton, the Wildcats completed a sweep of the regular-season series. When the two teams met on March 17 in Lexington, RC won 8-3. Staunton ended the week at 1-8.
In the rematch, Entsminger pitched the first four innings, striking out six and allowing one hit, three walks and five runs (one earned). Sean Martino came to the mound for the final three innings, striking out three and surrendering three hits, one walk and five runs (one earned).
The Storm took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Kealo Smith scored on a groundout. RC answered back with three runs in the second. Brady Majors singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Thomas Armstrong, and Drew Potter ran home on a wild pitch. Brady Majors then scored on a sacrifice fly by Derek Smith to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead.
The Wildcats added two more runs in the third, with Tucker Hopkins scoring on a groundout and Majors hitting a double on a fly ball to center field to drive in Potter. In the fourth, Clay Irvine scored on an error to extend RC’s lead to 6-1. Majors scored on an error in the fifth to stretch the Wildcats’ lead to 7-1.
Staunton battled back with three runs on two RC errors in the fifth, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 7-4. In the top of the sixth, Price Lunsford scored on a wild pitch to give RC an 8-4 lead.
The Storm added a run in the sixth and another in the seventh before the Wildcats ended the game by securing two groundouts to Potter at first base.
The Wildcats recorded six hits against three Staunton pitchers. Majors led the way with three hits and two RBIs. Smith and Toby Oakes each had a hit and two RBIs for the Storm.
RC and Staunton each committed four errors.
RC 10, HHS 1
In the 10-1 win at Harrisonburg last Tuesday, Paxton pitched well and hit a triple to bring in a run.
Pitching the first 4.2 innings, Paxton struck out six and allowed two hits, one walk and one earned run. Majors came to the mound for the final 2.1 innings, striking out one and permitting no hits, one walk and no runs.
Harrisonburg (1-7 overall, 0-1 district) scored its lone run in the first when Noel Cano ran home on a wild pitch.
The Wildcats responded in the third inning with three runs. Irvine doubled on a fly ball to right field to bring home Potter, and Derek Smith singled on a grounder to the shortstop to drive in Nolan Stines. Irvine then scored on a groundout by Paxton. In the fourth, Majors scored on an error to extend RC’s lead to 4-1.
The Wildcats added three more runs in the fifth to stretch their lead to 7-1. Armstrong singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Paxton, Hopkins stole home, and Trevor Hoke scored on a wild pitch.
RC tacked on three more runs in the seventh. Paxton ran home on a wild pitch, and Lunsford scored on an error. Zachary Majors singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Brady Majors for the final run of the game.
The Wildcats recorded seven hits against four Harrisonburg pitchers. Irvine led the way with two hits and an RBI. Registering one hit each for the Blue Streaks were Cano and Miguel Fajardo.
Harrisonburg committed seven errors, while RC had two.
Reviewing the week, Roadcap highlighted several Wildcats who stepped up. “Tucker Hopkins had a phenomenal week at the plate, with multiple extra-base hits,” he said.
The RC coach added that Irvine and Smith “continue to play all-around good games defensively and offensively. … Once again, I’m super proud of our young kids adapting to the varsity game quickly and having great senior leadership – truly a fun and great group of kids all together.”
The Wildcats were scheduled to play host to Spotswood yesterday and will continue district action at Turner Ashby on Friday at 6 p.m. before playing host to Broadway on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
