Princeton-Rosewood Basebal

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on May 8, 2015 1:48 PM

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On paper, the battle for second place in Carolina 1-A Conference should have been close.

On paper, it wasn't surprising that the two evenly matched teams with almost identical records were playing the cloesly contested tied game that they did through the first four innings.

On paper, the 15-run inning that Rosewood put up in the 5th looks as impressive as it did on the field.

Playing their fourth game in four days, the Rosewood Eagles showed no sign of fatigue, putting up 20 runs for the second time this week during a 20-5 rout of conference and county rival Princeton.

For the Eagles, everyone who played hit safely at least once. Everyone who played also scored at least once. Eight of the Eagles' nine batters scored in the 15-run fourth inning alone.

"We hit the ball well," Rosewood head coach Jason King said. "I told them that during the first couple innings, I didn't think our plate approaches were very good. We didn't see a whole lot of pitches early. What we did do was make our adjustments. When we made our adjustments, we starting seeing more pitches and started to make their pitcher throw more pitches.

"When you do that, and you can hit the ball like that, it's going to generate some runs."

While everyone got into the action for the Eagles, it was catcher Ethan Chapin who had the biggest night of all.

Chapin went 2-3 with six RBI, three of which came on an inside-the-park homerun in the fourth. The junior catcher reached base and scored on all four of the plate apperances he had on the night.

Of all 20 runs scored on the night, it was Chapin's unlikely homerun that got the loudest adoration from the small-but-lively student section.

"Well when I was rounding second, I turned to look out there," Chapin said. "And he was still turned and running after it. As soon as I saw that, I was like, 'well, I'm about to score here. I ain't slowing down at third.'"

Other noteable performances on the night came from first baseman Derek Neal and centerfielder Bryce McKeel. Neal went 1-4 with 2 RBI and three runs scored while McKeel went 1-4 with a double, 5 RBI and one run scored.

It was the most impressive offensive outburst in a week full of them.

In four of the past five games - all wins - the Eagles have put double digits up on the scoreboard.

After a midseason slide in which Rosewood lost seven of eight games, the Eagles are hitting their stride at just the right time.

"The momentum is the one thing that you want to try and hold on to and carry," King said. "I told them in the meeting we just had, everyone is 0-0. It's 0-0 now, it doesn't matter the record. I told them that a month or two ago when we were in a slump. I told them, 'Guys, your record doesn't matter at the end of the season.'"

The win is especially sweet for the Rosewood seniors, who played their last regular season home game.

"I told them that I was so proud of them, so glad that they got to go out on a high note," King said. "Against a really good ballclub too. Princeton is a good ball team, and we don't need to forget that. But they did what they needed to do out here tonight. I challenged them and told them that they needed to come out here and play as hard as they possibly could."

Jordan Gurley, the Eagles starting pitcher on the night, was one of those seniors honored.

Gurley responded with another strong outing. In his final regular season start, Gurley went 4 2/3 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits.

He also walked two and struck out five.

The start came less than 24 hours after a nasty collision at first base during the Eagle's game against Spring Creek left his start in question.

Despite not having his "A-stuff," Gurley's result was never in question.

"He might have been a little off, but I think he was fine health wise," King said. "It's obviously much easier to pitch with a lead. He came up and threw strikes at the end, and that's what we wanted him to do.

While the last two weeks have been kind to the Eagles, both the players and the coaching staff know the time to feel good about those results has passed.

With the playoffs starting in the middle of next week, the team now has a chance to rest what are assuredly tired legs.

"I feel very confident about [our team] right now," Chapin said. "We've just got to keep hitting the ball and not making as many errors in the field, and we should be great in the playoffs."