Wildcats Come Up Just Short At Gap
Entering the final stretch of the regular season, the Rockbridge County High School baseball team lost a trio of games last week, suffering a 12-1 nondistrict home loss to Turner Ashby last Monday before falling to district rivals Stuarts Draft and Buffalo Gap.
The Wildcats ended the week on a six-game losing streak, falling to 4-12 overall and 2-10 in the district.
In their closest game of the week, the Wildcats came up short 15-13 on Thursday at Buffalo Gap.
With the win, the Bison (6-10 overall, 4-8 district) completed a sweep of the season series with RC. When the teams met on April 6 in Lexington, Gap won 12-5.
Gap took a 2-0 lead in the first, but the Wildcats responded with six runs in the top of the second. Chase Potter brought in the first RC run with a single to left field that drove in Henrick Colvin. Austyn Gannutz then singled on a line drive to left field to bring home Potter and Rocky Perlozzo. Brady Majors doubled to right field to drive in Gannutz and Bradi Ziegler, and Eli Sorrells singled to right field to bring home Majors, giving RC a 6-2 lead.
The Bison responded with a run in the bottom of the second and four runs in the fourth to take a 7-6 lead. RC then retook the lead, scoring three runs in the fourth to go up 9-7.
Gap answered with three runs in the fifth to take a 10-9 lead before RC tied the game at 10-10 in the top of the sixth when Colvin singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Sorrells.
The Bison then loaded the bases and scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth, going up 1510.
RC had one more big hit, a triple to center field by Ziegler in the seventh, bringing home Potter, Perlozzo and Tyler Woods for the final three runs of the game. Gap allowed one walk, but pitcher Brandon Argenbright struck out two of the final three batters to seal the win.
Argenbright pitched the final 5.1 innings, striking out two while allowing nine hits, two walks and seven runs (five earned). In the first 1.2 innings, Walker Thompson struck out two while surrendering seven hits, two walks and six earned runs.
Elijah Watkins pitched the first five innings for RC, striking out one while allowing 10 hits, six walks and 10 runs (seven earned). Pitching the final inning for RC were Price Lunsford and Trevor Hoke.
RC racked up 16 hits, while Gap had 15. Ziegler led the Wildcats with three hits and three RBIs, while Colvin had three hits and two RBIs. Recording two hits each were Perlozzo and Gannutz.
Leading the Bison with three hits each were Argenbright and Dalton Coffey, while Wyatt Swisher and Chase Richie each had two hits. RC committed five errors while Gap had four.
TA 12, RC 1
The Wildcats started the week with a 12-1 home loss in six innings to Turner Ashby.
TA (14-3), which had beaten RC 25-0 on March 23 in Bridgewater, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the rematch and then added five runs in the second to go up 6-0.
The Knights scored two more runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and their final three in the sixth to extend their lead to 12-0. The Wildcats scored their lone run in the bottom of the sixth when Perlozzo singled to left field to drive in Potter.
TA had seven hits and capitalized on nine RC errors while committing none, TA held RC to three hits. Mason Mantz led the Knights with two hits. Recording one hit each for the Wildcats were Perlozzo, Watkins and Hoke.
Samuel Moats pitched the first five innings for the Knights, striking out five while allowing one hit, one walk and an earned run. In the final inning for TA, Caden Simmers surrendered two hits. RC used four pitchers.
SD 14, RC 7
Despite taking a 4-0 lead in the first inning, the Wildcats couldn’t hold off Stuarts Draft, falling 14-7 on Tuesday of last week in Lexington.
With the victory, the Cougars (10-8, 5-11) avenged an 8-7 loss to RC on April 2 at Draft.
Draft got two solo home runs from freshman Brogan Fitzgerald and a three-run blast from sophomore De’shaun Harris.
“Credit to them,” said RC head coach Travis Roadcap of the Cougars. “They hit three bombs.”
The Wildcats started the scoring in the first when Gannutz singled on a line drive to right field to bring home Hoke, and Majors then tripled to center field to drive in Gannutz and Ziegler. Majors scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Sorrells.
Draft answered ith two runs on an RC error in the second. In the third, the Cougars scored four more runs to take a 6-4 lead.
Fitzgerald hit his first homer to left field in the fourth, and Jake Yow doubled to right field to bring home Noah Tinsley, extending Draft’s lead to 8-4.
RC cut the lead to 8-6 in the bottom of the fifth when Perlozzo and Gannutz both scored on a an error, but Fitzgerald then hit his second homer to center field in the top of the sixth, and a three-run dinger to left field by Harris extended Draft’s lead to 12-6.
The Cougars scored their final two runs in the top of the seventh, on a wild pitch and a single. Majors then doubled in the bottom of the seventh and scored RC’s final run on an error before the Cougars ended the game with a strikeout and a catch in center.
RC recorded 10 hits, while Draft had nine. Majors led the Wildcats with two hits and two RBIs. Fitzgerald and Gates each had two hits and two RBIs.
Draft used two pitchers while RC went through four. The Wildcats committed eight errors to the Cougars’ four.
RC Wilson Memorial yesterday. The Wildcats will continue district play at Riverheads on Thursday at 5 p.m. before playing host to Fort Defiance on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Before Tuesday’s game, the Wildcats will honor their five seniors. They’ll conclude the regular season at Alleghany next Wednesday, May 20, at 6 p.m.
ABOVE, A Stuarts Draft baserunner slides back toward first base as RC junior Elijah Watkins gets his glove up for the catch. AT LEFT, Wildcat junior Rocky Perlozzo takes a swing. Perlozzo had one hit and scored a run. (Stephanie Mikels Blevins photos)
RC SOPHOMORE Hendrick Colvin gets ready to throw the ball as a Stuarts Draft baserunner approaches and senior teammate Austin Moyers runs toward second base. Stephanie Mikels Blevins photo)
