Rosewood easily dispatches Pinetown Northside from 1-A baseball playoffs
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on May 15, 2010 11:07 PM
Jason King expected this type of performance.
The second-year Rosewood head baseball coach watched his team turn in a dominating, 13-1 victory over Pinetown Northside in the opening round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A playoffs Friday evening.
The Eagles needed just 41/2 innings to eliminate the Panthers from postseason action.
With six seniors and three juniors on their roster, the Eagles pounded out 13 hits and had four different players with at least two hits. Rosewood stayed patient at the plate as Northside starting pitcher Brandon Marsh struggled to find the strike zone.
Cody Harris' RBI single to left field in the bottom of the first inning scored Taylor Price to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Will Beasley led off the home half of the second inning and drove the first pitch he saw from Marsh over the left field wall. Will Grantham and Harris each added RBI single to push the lead to 4-0.
Will Winslow's sacrifice fly put Rosewood in front 5-0.
"We expect our bats to be good at home anyway," said King. "With guys who have as much as experience as we've got, we expect them to make good adjustments at the plate and be ready to hit the ball. We've learned to be patient."
Grantham tacked on an RBI single in the bottom of the third and Matt Neal provided a two-run double.
Beasley belted a three-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth, which increased the lead to 11-0. Grantham's RBI single and Neal's sac fly capped the Eagles' offensive display.
Tyler Woolard's sac fly in the top of the fifth accounted for Northside's lone run.
Price, Harris (2 RBI) and Grantham (3 RBI) each collected three hits. Beasley (5 RBI) had two hits.
Neal tossed three no-hit innings, surrendering one walk and striking out two. Beasley worked the final two innings, allowing one earned run on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
"We knew we wanted to get Matt some work early," said King. "We wanted him to go at least three innings. Then we wanted to get Will some work. Hopefully we set up nicely for the second round."
Rosewood entertains Red Springs on Tuesday.
"I tell the kids to keep their foot on the gas," said King. "That's what they live by. We don't ever have enough runs. We don't ever have enough defense. We've got to keep going at it."