Rosewood rallies past Jaguars in Carolina 1-A

Published in Sports on April 20, 2005 1:57 PM

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After last night's come-from-behind 3-2 win over Farmville Central at The Nest, only one question remains unanswered for the Rosewood baseball team.

What level of chicanery and guile will coach Scott Adams resort to this Friday night when the Eagles travel to Ayden-Grifton for another must-win game?

After losing so many one run nail biters, Rosewood finally got their share of the breaks to shut out conference front-runner Princeton.

Yesterday, it was superstition.

"When some things are working," said Adams, "we're not going to change them. That's why we're wearing the same uniforms and only one scorekeeper can make out our lineup."

It might not have helped us defensively, but it certainly has given us an assist mentally."

Adams would not rule out using Feng Shui, jungle karma, or tarot cards if that would lead to a win.

Both team's records now stand at 4-3 in Carolina 1-A Conference play.

For the first three innings, coach John Galeazzi's club had smooth sailing. Rosewood committed six errors and spotted their guests to a 2-0 lead. Instead of putting the game on ice early, they left five runners stranded in those innings, and a total of seven on the night.

Fortunately, for the Eagles, pitcher Kyle Bunn maintained his composure.

"We got a couple of bad bounces on grounders early on," he said. I knew we'd start getting the plays."

He was right. Double plays ended Farmville chances in the first and fourth innings.

Outfielders Dave Martel, Trey Kriger, and Holt Rains made inning ending grabs in the third, fifth, and seventh innings. Catcher Dave Martel grabbed a towering Justin Bagley foul pop to end the sixth.

Bunn, en route to his fifth win of the year, aided his own cause offensively, as well as defeinsively. Throwing only 77 pitches, he allowed only four hits, while striking out three. He scored two runs.

Rosewood persevered despite violating Adams' first two laws of baseball strategy. They committed six errors. Equally worrisome, they left nine runners on base.

After loading the base to no avail in the bottom of the first, they tied the score at two in their half of the third. After Kriger sent the first of two towering shots to center, Bunn walked, went to second on a fielder's choice, and went to third on a balk.

He trotted home on Brantley Ellis' second single of the night. Ellis then scored on Dave Smeltzer's bloop single that was lost in the lights.

After stranding Smeltzer at third in the sixth inning, Rosewood did not miss their next scoring opportunity in the seventh. With one out, Bunn doubled to left center. He scored the game winner on Dustin Overman's single up the middle.

"Just another example of the same thing we've been running into all season," said Galeazzi. We had our chances early and just didn't get the offense necessary to score. Brad Bagley pitched a great game in his own right. He deserved the win."

Farmville Central will have a week off before entertaining North Johnston next Tuesday.

"We're fortunate that we kept the ball in play and lived off our pitching" said Adams. "Kyle is a great competitor. He's a gamer and a class act.

"Our best play is yet to be seen."