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The Rockbridge County High School baseball team suffered a 9-5 home loss to Valley District rival Broadway on Tuesday of last week in Lexington.
The Wildcats, who fell to 1-3 in the district, would improve to 5-8 overall with a 12-0 home win in five innings over Parry McCluer on Thursday. (See separate story.)
With a 6-0 road win over Spotswood on Friday, Broadway ended the week at 11-5 overall and 4-1 in the district.
Giving credit to the Gobblers, RC head coach Travis Roadcap said, “They’re always state contenders.”
RC led 2-0 after the first two innings, but the Gobblers scored six runs in the third and maintained the lead for the rest of the game.
In the Wildcats’ first at-bat, Clay Irvine gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the first by slamming a home run to left field. The Wildcats added another run in the second when Derek Smith singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Nolan Stines.
The Gobblers started their offensive surge in the third when Bransen Hensley hit a line drive to right field, and both Kadyn Sprinkle and Lee Slater scored on an RC error. Conner Michael then doubled on a line drive to left to bring home Hensley, giving Broadway a 3-2 lead. The Gobblers added two more runs when Josiah Crider singled on a line drive to center field to drive in Michael and Hunter Deavers, and Mason Lynn scored on a line drive to center field by Peyton Frank to make it 6-2.
Broadway added another run in the fourth when Slater scored on a groundout. In the sixth, Hensley scored on an RC error to extend the Gobblers’ lead to 8-2.
RC cut the lead to 8-3 in the sixth when Price Lunsford scored on a groundout by Drew Potter, but Broadway made it 9-3 in the seventh when Sprinkle scored on a sacrifice fly to center field.
In the bottom of the seventh, Smith doubled on a fly ball to center field to drive in Irvine, and Hopkins singled on a hard grounder to left field to bring home Smith. Broadway then ended the game with a double play and a catch at second base.
Broadway and RC each recorded nine hits. Smith led RC with two hits and two RBIs, while seven other Wildcats each had one hit.
Sprinkle paced the Gobblers with two hits, while Michael and Josiah Crider each had a hit and two RBIs.
The Gobblers used three different pitchers, while the Wildcats used four: Sean Martino, Zachary Majors, Bennett Bishop and Tucker Entsminger.
Broadway sophomore Josiah Crider, who has already committed to play Division I baseball at West Virginia University, pitched the first five innings, striking out six and allowing five hits, three walks and two earned runs.
The Wildcats committed two errors, while the Gobblers had none.
After the game, Roadcap said he was proud of his team for rallying at the end. The Wildcats have plenty of youth, with three sophomores and three freshmen. “When you have young kids that are battling, that’s a good sign,” said Roadcap.
“We’re young, but we’re competing,” he added. “I’m proud of that. We have a group of kids.”
RC was scheduled to play host to district rival Harrisonburg on Friday, but that game was postponed due to rain.
The Wildcats will play host to nondistrict rival James River today, Wednesday, at 5 p.m. before returning to district action at Spotswood on Friday at 5:30 p.m. They’ll travel to Buchanan for a rematch against James River on Monday at 5:30 p.m. before returning to district action against Turner Ashby at home on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
