Baseball -- Mental part of game fails Eagles

By David Williams
Published in Sports on March 25, 2004 2:01 PM

• Print
• Email

Baseball, many noted scholars of the game say, is 90 percent mental.

The Rosewood Eagles learned that old lesson the hard way Wednesday night as Farmville Central came to western Wayne County and went home with a 5-4 Carolina 1-A Conference win.

The game turned the Jaguars' way in the final three innings. Before that, Rosewood was in command 4-1 with pitcher Taylor Carr throwing a solid game on the mound for the Eagles.

It was then, according to coach Scott Adams, that Rosewood "lost its mental focus."

Carr, who had retired five in a row and had three strikeouts in the game, gave up a hit while an infield error up a second runner on base. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, Carr walked three straight batters to walk in two run, giving up another run on a wild pitch.

Adams replaced Carr with Kyle Bunn, who got the Eagles out of the jam with a strikeout. But the damage had been done and the game was tied at 4-4.

Rosewood struggled against Jags pitcher Kyle Jones, who threw a complete game and struck out eight. But the Eagles helped the pitcher by consistently swinging at high pitches and not being deliberate with the bats.

"We were not disciplined at the plate," said Adams. Farmville Central made the plays when they needed to, but we just couldn't throw strikes at one stretch and we didn't swing the bats well. That's what lost the game.

"We had it, and the kids know it."

Rosewood went up 2-0 in the early going as Dustin Overman scored in the first inning on an errant throw to third base while trying to turn a double play on Josh Allen's grounder. The 1-0 lead was doubled when Thad Hill scored on Matt Craft's single to short. Craft had to beat the throw to first to plate Hill.

Farmville Central closed to 2-1 in the third after Jeremy Rawls reached on a two-out walk and scored on a rip down the left-field line by Jones. But the Eagles re-inflated the lead in the fourth inning as Overman came through with a two-out hit to score Bunn and Nick Becton for the 4-1 lead.

The game-winner came against Bunn in the top of the seventh inning.

Brandon Cox opened the inning after being hit by a pitch. Rawls moved the runner over on a bunt and took third on a wild pitch, setting up Jones' sacrifice fly to center field that moved Cox across home.

From there, Jones closed out the game with a fly out, a strikeout and a ground out.

Farmville (4-4, 1-1) won despite four errors. Rosewood (2-4, 1-2) will take on Midway this afternoon at Rosewood to end the week.

Farmville Central 001 030 1 -- 5 5 4

Rosewood 110 200 0 -- 4 4 2

Leading hitters -- Farmville Central -- Brandon Cox 1-4; Kyle Jones 1-2, 2 RBI, SAC fly; Tommy Cobb 1-3, RBI; Jared Beddard 1-3. Rosewood -- Dustin Overman 2-4, 2 RBI; Matt Craft 1-4, RBI; Brantley Ellis 1-3.

IP H R ER BB SO

Farmville Central

Kyle Jones (W) 7 4 4 2 2 8

Rosewood

Taylor Carr 42Ú3 4 4 3 3 3

Kyle Bunn (L) 21Ú3 1 1 0 0 1