RC Baseball Drops Two

Wildcats Fail To Hold Onto Early Leads

A pair of Shenandoah District opponents pulled away from the Rockbridge County High School baseball team last week, as the Wildcats suffered an 18-8 home loss to Staunton in six innings last Tuesday before falling 6-3 on Friday at Waynesboro. RC ended the week at 4-9 overall and 2-8 in district action.

With last Tuesday’s victory, the Storm (4-10 overall, 2-8 district), avenged a 11-4 loss to RC on April 13 in Staunton. The Storm took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first before the Wildcats scored in the bottom of the first when Bradi Ziegler hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Trevor Hoke.

Staunton and RC each scored two runs in the second, putting the Storm up 5-3, before the Wildcats racked up five runs in the third to take an 8-5 lead.

The Storm then erupted for nine runs in the fourth before scoring four more in the sixth, holding the Wildcats scoreless in the final three innings.

Staunton recorded 16 hits, while RC had eight. Nathan Neil led the Storm with four hits and five RBIs, while Gabryel Johnson added three hits. Recording two hits each for Staunton were Austin Sullenger, Riley Cook and Addison Brown.

Leading the Wildcats with two hits each were Brady Majors and Eli Sorrells, who paced RC with two RBIs.

Christian Desper pitched the first two innings for Staunton, allowing six hits, no walks and seven runs (one earned). In the final four innings, Zachery Hinkle struck out four while surrendering three hits, three walks and one earned run.

For RC, Majors pitched the first 3.2 innings, striking out six while allowing 11 hits, three walks and 12 runs (six earned). Tyler Woods then pitched the next 1.1 innings, striking out two while permitting five hits, two walks and six runs (three earned). In the final inning, Price Lunsford struck out one while surrendering no hits, one walk and no runs.

The Wildcats committed six errors, while the Storm had four.

WHS 6, RC 3

Despite trailing 3-0 in the first inning, Waynesboro (7-8, 5-6) battled back to tie the game and pulled away to deal the visiting Wildcats a 6-3 loss on Friday.

When the teams met on March 31 in Lexington, Waynesboro eked out a 9-8 win.

In the rematch, the Wildcats got their offense going in the top of the first when Majors doubled to left field to bring home Chase Potter. Sorrells then hit a hard grounder and reached first base on an error, driving in Ziegler. After Hendrick Colvin hit a hard grounder, Majors scored on an error to make it 3-0.

Waynesboro responded with three runs in the bottom of the first on singles by Jackson Powell, Gabriel Smith and Caiden Turner to tie the game at 3-3.

The Little Giants scored two more runs on an RC error in the bottom of the second to take a 5-3 lead. Waynesboro scored its final run in the third when Casey Breeden ran home on a sacrifice fly to center field by Kaleb Sipe.

Waynesboro recorded nine hits, while RC had five. Trenton Carson led the Little Giants with two hits, while seven other Waynesboro players each had one hit. Austyn Gannutz paced the Wildcats with three hits; Lunsford and Majors each had one.

Carson pitched the first five innings for Waynesboro, striking out seven while allowing four hits, two walks and three runs (one earned). In the final two innings, Powell struck out one while surrendering one hit, no walks and no runs.

For RC, Elijah Watkins pitched the first five innings, striking out three while allowing nine hits, no walks and six unearned runs. In the final inning, Austin Moyers pitched and gave up no hits, no walks and no runs. RC committed six errors, while Waynesboro had four.

The Wildcats were scheduled to play home games against Turner Ashby on Monday and Stuarts Draft yesterday. They’ll continue district action at Buffalo Gap on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Next week, they’ll play a nondistrict game on Monday at Rocktown before returning to district action at home against Wilson Memorial on Tuesday, with both games starting at 6 p.m.