ALL-AREA -- King named baseball coach-of-the-year

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on June 15, 2014 12:14 PM

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Rosewood had just turned in a less-than-inspired effort that forced head varsity baseball coach Jason King to take a longer-than-normal cool-down period.

Once he met with his team, King didn't mince words.

"We got hammered by Spring Creek at our place and you could tell we weren't ready to play that night," King said. "I told them 'you're either going to turn this thing around, take it serious and we can be the team we're going to be or we're not.'"

The players responded in impressive fashion.

The Eagles reeled off 16 consecutive wins, claimed the program's third Carolina 1-A Conference title during King's nine-year tenure in the dugout and reached the N.C. High School Athletic Association eastern regional championship series for the first time since 2010.

"Some teams respond when you have talks like that and some just don't," said King, who has been selected the 2014 News-Argus All-Area baseball coach-of-the-year.

"We really came together after that (Spring Creek) game. No disrespect to other teams I've coached, but this was the most fun I've had coaching a team in the nine years I've been here."

A coachable group of players began to apply themselves on the field.

King got quality outings from its right-handed ace Reed Howell, Jordan Gurley and Brent Breedlove on the bump. The defense cleaned up its mistakes and the offense produced in key situations.

That 4-4 start turned into a distant memory.

"Once we realized that we had a chance to be pretty good ... pretty decent, then things just started clicking," King said. "They wanted to win baseball games and they had a lot of fun doing it as most people could see."

The Eagles had some grit, too.

They put together a three-run, seventh-inning rally to defeat North Duplin. They gutted out an opening-round, one-run victory over Gates County in the playoffs.

Then came a nerve-wrecking, eastern semifinal affair at Perquimans County. Rosewood escaped trouble throughout the early innings, caught a couple of breaks and upset the state-ranked Pirates.

"They never gave up," King said. "It took that mentality for us -- and any team for that matter -- to make a run in the playoffs and we certainly had it. Some of our wins were a testament to that."