Rosewood's Howell no-hits Princeton

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 17, 2013 1:47 PM

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PRINCETON -- That underdog label the Rosewood High baseball team has worn most of this season wore off a little bit more Tuesday evening.

Reed Howell threw a complete-game no-hitter and the Eagles handed Carolina 1-A Conference archrival Princeton a 3-0 loss on the Fred Bartholomew Jr. Athletic Complex baseball diamond.

The Eagles avenged a walk-off loss to the Bulldogs less than two weeks ago in opening-round play of the 2013 Deacon Jones Invitational.

"(This win) puts us in good position going into Ayden-Grifton on Friday evening, which is going to be tough," RHS head coach Jason King said.

Howell was tough on Princeton.

The right-hander faced just three batters over the minimum and logged eight strikeouts. The Bulldogs (5-10 overall, 1-4 CC) were unable to capitalize on two passed balls, a balk and two errors.

"I controlled the bats," Howell said. "I got ahead in the pitch count, made sure that I could throw what I wanted to throw. I had confidence in the defense behind me and everything just clicked from there."

Howell's no-hitter was the second in as many days in conference play. Spring Creek's Luke Miller held Goldsboro hitless in a 7-0 victory on Monday.

"Reed pitched an outstanding game," King said. "He stayed in the strike zone and got some ground balls when we needed to get out of the inning."

Princeton sophomore Michael Wooten held Rosewood scoreless until the sixth. The Eagles pushed three runs across, which gave Howell plenty of working room on the mound.

Wooten yielded three runs (two earned) on six hits, struck out three and walked two in six innings. Matt Daughtry provided one inning of one-strikeout relief.

Rosewood climbed to 5-11 overall after it started the season 1-8.

"We are really playing well (right now)," Howell said. "We always seem to be the underdog. We are better than people think we are and we want to prove them wrong by showing them."