Rosewood leaves "The Swamp" with a shutout

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on April 1, 2015 1:46 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

SEVEN SPRINGS -- It was just over a year ago when Spring Creek walked on to Rosewood's baseball field and delivered a beating.

That was the last time the Eagles lost a Carolina 1-A Conference game.

After walking off the field on Tuesday night, Spring Creek coach Heath Whitfield told his guys maybe that is what they needed -- a beating. Rosewood won its 16th straight league game with a 9-0 shutout over the Gators at "The Swamp."

"We went up there last year and handed it to them pretty good, and they ain't lost since," Whitfield said. "I told the guys after this we can either do what they did, or we can keep playing like this."

Pitchers Ethan Chapin and Will Rouse cruised through four scoreless innings on the mound. Chad Spurgeon had the only two hits of the game -- a triple and a single.

But in the fifth inning, Rosewood coach Jason King talked to his team about their approaches at the plate.

"We were up there trying to pull everything and hitting weak ground balls and I told the guys let's start focusing on hitting the ball backside," King said. "Finally, about the fifth inning we were able to string some hits together."

The Eagles responded with a five-run fifth that was sparked by a base hit over the shortstop by Derek Neal. It was the bottom half of the Rosewood batting order that got things going. No. 7 hitter Bryce McKeel and No. 9 hitter Jordan DuBose drove in three runs during the inning.

"If the bottom half of the lineup keeps hitting like that we're going to be a tough team to beat," Neal said. "We'll have a chance to make a run at playoffs again."

Chapin got into some trouble of his own in the fifth inning.

"I was having trouble throwing strikes," Chapin said. "I honestly didn't think I would last as long as I did. I thought I was coming out."

He walked two batters after retiring the first two hitters. But after a short mound visit, he refocused and went back to pounding the strike zone to get out of the inning. He finished with a complete-game, three-hit shutout that included four strikeouts and four walks.

Spring Creek (3-4 overall, 3-1 CC) combined for 31 hits in their last two games. Whitfield thought the team was really locked in at the plate.

"Maybe we used up all our hits, because we did not look good tonight," said Whitfield, whose team could never use its "small-ball" strategy since it put few runners on base.

Neal threw two runners out at second base.

"I'll be the first to admit my arm is not 100 percent, so we were making sure to keep them close," said Neal, who continues to recover from labrum surgery. "We knew they were going to try to run on us."