The Rockbridge County High School baseball team saw a 3-2 lead slip away, as the Wildcats came up short 5-3 in a Valley District game on Tuesday of last week at Turner Ashby.
TA (9-2 overall, 3-2 district) scored three runs in the sixth inning and kept the Wildcats (3-5, 2-3) scoreless in the final three innings.
Earlier in the game, the Knights took a 1-0 lead in the second when Brady Spotts scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Everett Johnson. TA made it 2-0 in the third when Thomas Knight tagged up and then scored, following a pop out.
The Wildcats scored all three of their runs in the fourth. Austyn Gannutz doubled to left field to drive in Nolan Stines for the first run. Brady Majors then singled on a line drive to right field to bring home Drew Potter and Eli Sorrells, giving the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.
It was the sixth inning that decided the game. TA took back the lead when Johnson tripled to center field to drive in Mason Mantz and Grady Bowman, putting the Knights up 4-3. TA then scored the final run of the game on a sacrifice fly to center field by Cooper Smith, bringing home Johnson.
In the seventh, Bradi Ziegler walked for the Wildcats, but the Knights ended the game with a groundout and two strikeouts.
The Knights recorded six hits from six different players, while the Wildcats had five hits, one each from Gannutz, Majors, Potter, Stines and Clay Irvine.
TA used three pitchers, combining to strike out six while allowing three walks and three earned runs.
For RC, Eli Watkins pitched a complete game, striking out three while allowing the six hits, one walk and five runs, four of them earned.
RC and TA each committed one error. On Friday, the Wildcats traveled to Harrisonburg to face district rival Rocktown. RC took a 1-0 lead in the first when Potter scored on a passed ball. The game was stopped in the top of the third due to a thunderstorm, with RC up 1-0. It’s scheduled to be continued on Monday, May 19, at 5 p.m. at RC, with a second game between the two teams to be played after the first.
The Wildcats were scheduled to play at Broadway yesterday and will continue district action at Spotswood on Friday at 5 p.m. On Saturday, they’ll head to Buena Vista to take on local rival Parry McCluer, with the Wildcats attempting to sweep the season series. When the two teams met on April 5 at RC, the Wildcats won 14-1 in five innings.
RC will return to district action with a home game against William Monroe on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
