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The Rockbridge County High School baseball team suffered a pair of Valley District losses last week, falling at home against Turner Ashby 10-0 in five innings. At William Monroe, the Wildcats (4-14 overall, 1-9 district) lost to the Dragons (12-5, 6-3) by a score of 9-3.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the second when Drew Potter hit a home run to center field. It was the second career homer for Potter, a junior.
WM answered in the bottom of the second by erupting for six runs to go up 6-1. The Dragons scored on a sacrifice fly, a three-run homer by Parker Hildebrand, a single by Gavin Battaile-Gilbert, and a groundout.
In the third, RC senior Thomas Armstrong hit a two-run home run to center field, bringing home Clay Irvine, to cut WM’s lead to 6-3. It was Armstrong’s first career homer.
WM extended its lead to 7-3 in the sixth when Ryan Mannion hit a home run to left field, and the Dragons added their final two runs in the sixth when Jamal Neal belted a home run to center field. In the top of the seventh, the Dragons made three quick outs, keeping the Wildcats from getting on base.
The Dragons recorded eight hits, while RC had six. Leading WM with two hits each were Hildebrand and Mannion.
Irvine paced the Wildcats with two hits, while Armstrong, Potter, Zac Majors and Bradi Ziegler each had one hit.
On the mound for RC, Elijah Watkins pitched the first 4.2 innings, striking out one while allowing six hits, five walks and seven runs (one earned). Potter pitched 1.1 innings of relief, striking out one while surrendering two hits, no walks and two earned runs. The Dragons used four pitchers.
RC and WM each committed two errors.
TA 10, RC 0
The Wildcats suffered a 10-0 home loss in five innings on Tuesday of last week against Turner Ashby (9-9, 6-5).
The Knights, who had beaten the Wildcats 19-1 in five innings on April 12 in Bridgewater, got out to a strong start in the rematch, scoring eight runs in the first inning. TA added its final two runs in the fifth.
TA recorded nine hits while holding RC to three. Leading the Knights with three hits was Samuel Moats with three hits, while Mason Mantz had two.
Recording one hit each for the Wildcats were Armstrong, Majors and Eli Sorrells.
On the mound for TA, Clay Guyer pitched all five innings, striking out two and allowing three hits and one walk in the shutout After TA took a 5-0 lead in the first, with Brady Edwards pitching, JP Welsh pitched in relief for the remainder of the game, striking out one while surrendering eight hits, one walk and five runs (one earned).
RC committed two errors, while TA had none. The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Broadway yesterday and will conclude the regular season when they play host to East Rockingham on Thursday at 5 p.m.
