Rosewood's Bradley escapes trouble, Moody shuts the door on Princeton

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 17, 2016 1:47 AM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

PRINCETON -- As Princeton's baseball team trotted off the field in the middle of the seventh inning Friday evening, the PA announcer played "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones.

Rosewood, instead, decided -- unintentionally -- to silently break out Aerosmith's "Livin on the Edge."

Bulldog Alex Hickman stood at second base.

Eagles head coach Jason King called on second baseman Boone Moody to replace starter Tanner Bradley on the bump and shut the door. Consecutive fielder's choice plays moved Princeton even closer to forcing extra innings.

A passed ball.

Princeton pulled to within 3-2.

The Bulldog faithful could sense a comeback against an archrival.

Eagle fans paced behind the fence.

"It was a little more different this time," Moody said. "I had a lot of confidence going in. From the stretch, I just couldn't find the zone, couldn't really get comfortable. When they had runners on second and third, I was able to find the zone -- get a few strikes over the plate, get us some clutch ground balls."

Moody didn't need another ground ball, though. Working with two strikes, he fired a belt-high pitch in the zone. The Dogs' Tyler Ricks, who has committed to N.C. Wesleyan, took a healthy cut.

Strike three.

Game over.

Rosewood 3, Princeton 2.

"Man, I thought we were going to pull it out," Princeton head coach Bruce Rhodes said. "I was waiting for it. The thing I'm proud of them is we had a chance there at the end (to win) and that's all you can ask for us -- especially when you leave that many runners (eight) on and let it slip through your fingers.

"It came down to that last at-bat."

It was a typical Rosewood-Princeton affair -- neither team refused to go down easy. Bradley (2-1) allowed the lead-off batter to reach base in six of seven innings. Each time he escaped in Houdini-like fashion.

Bradley enticed the Bulldogs into first-pitch swings, which led to a 1-for-11 hitting performance with runners in scoring position. A 4-6-3 double play silenced Princeton in the fifth inning.

Proctor held himself accountable for not putting pressure on Rosewood's defense. King, meanwhile, was happy to see the Eagles not "play tight," despite seeing 13 Bulldogs reach base.

"That's when you've got to play relaxed, let the game come to you and do your job. We had a lot of fight, a lot of battle," King said.

Princeton plated the game's first run -- a two-out RBI single by Hunter Mitchell. Rosewood scored the next three runs via two infield errors, an RBI groundout by Hayden Amodeo and Derek Neal's run-scoring RBI double.

Bulldog right-hander Tanner Flowers retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced. But the run support never came as Princeton (12-5 overall) dropped its second straight Carolina 1-A Conference loss.

Rosewood exited 11-6 overall and 7-1 in league play.

"It's huge ... a big conference win, obviously (against) our rival other than Spring Creek," Moody said. "Now we've go to put this behind us. You can't live in the past.

"This is a good win, but we have to move on to next week."