Golden Falcons' bats come alive in 7th

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on March 9, 2016 1:48 PM

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RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

Down to his final strike with two outs and the bases loaded, Charles B. Aycock's Bradley Pate watched the pitch float dangerously near the plate.

He barely made contact.

Foul ball.

"It was close, so I was trying to fight it off (and) keep me in the box and try to get something that I could hit," Pate said. "It wasn't the best pitch to hit, but I tried to keep fighting."

Pate, again, fouled off the next pitch.

The count remained full as Rosewood middle reliever Jonathan Peacock threw his next offering right down the middle. Pate stroked it into right field and plated two runs.

Lead-off batter Chandler Matthews laced a bases-clearing, two-RBI triple down the right-field line which sealed Aycock's 5-1, non-conference triumph over the Eagles on Tuesday evening.

"We do a lot of mental conditioning in January and early February, and as I told them, that's the reason we do that with two outs and nobody on that we're still able to prolong the inning ... make something happen," CBA head coach Charles Davis said.

It was almost deja vu in the seventh.

During the first six innings, Aycock (4-0 overall) left the bases loaded on three different occasions -- twice with two outs in the scorebook. The Golden Falcons stranded 12 runners overall and batted 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.

Pate didn't want a repeat.

"I saw it coming in, it looked real nice so I just tried to stay back and hit it up the middle like we're taught in practice," said Pate, who ended the game 2-for-3.

"I knew it had to be done for us to get this win."

A pair of infield errors allowed Rosewood to take a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Pitt Community College signee Kyle Davis allowed runners to reach in five of six innings, but the Eagles could never capitalize.

RHS batted 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded four men at either second or third base. Aycock's defense turned a 1-6-4-3 double play in the second inning.

Davis yielded seven hits and retired the final five batters he faced. Trey Jordan sat down the Eagles in order in the seventh, and earned the save.

"Any time you play Aycock, you have to be on your 'A' game all the time," said RHS head coach Jason King, whose team surrendered the game-tying run on a fifth-inning outfield error.

"If you have any let-ups, they'll find them. They did a good job of staying in it. You do that enough, it's going to come back to hurt you eventually. I was proud of our effort, proud of our pitching.

"I think we're moving in the right direction."

Peacock and Ethan Chapin had two hits apiece for the Eagles.

Davis and catcher Bryce Anders each posted two hits for CBA, which leads the all-time series 36-2-1. Ashton McGee ended his string of four hitless games with a fifth-inning infield single. Landon Casey also had one hit.