Gators advance to 4th round for 2nd straight year

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 19, 2016 1:48 PM

• Print
• Email

rcoggins@newsargus.com

SEVEN SPRINGS -- Heath Whitfield gathered his team near the third-base line.

Princeton assistant coach Justin Willoughby slowly walked to the mound to talk with his infield. Head coach Bruce Proctor strolled from the dugout and toed the first-base line.

This was it.

The season was on the line.

Kane Geelen had already sawed off two laser-like fastballs from right-hander Tanner Flowers. Each pinged off his bat and sailed over the backstop fence.

"He (Coach Whitfield) told me that he was going to trust my swing, put the ball in play and hopefully we'll score," Geelen said. "I was looking to get a hold of it."

Geelen tapped Flowers' next offering to second base.

Princeton's Mason Rachels charged after the ground ball. SC's Will Rouse took off from third base and induced a wild throw from Rachels to catcher Alex Hickman.

Rouse scored.

Rachels dropped to his knees in disbelief.

Ball game.

The sixth-seeded Gators prevailed 4-3 and entertain seventh-seeded East Carteret in round four of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A baseball playoffs Friday. Weather permitting, the teams will play at 7 p.m.

"Will was on third and we had the contact play on," Whitfield said. "I said 'as soon as you see a downward angle off the bat, you go. I don't care where it's hit. Make them throw it. The ground's wet. The ball is probably wet and make them throw it home.'

"He made a great read."

The game-deciding play was a microcosm of an evening full of nervous energy, mental errors and physical mistakes that left each coach scratching his respective head.

The teams combined to leave 26 runners on base. Each had just two hits -- in a combined 25 attempts -- with runners in scoring position.

All seven runs were unearned.

"This late in the season, you wouldn't expect that," Proctor said of the uncharacteristic defensive miscues. "But, you know baseball man, whatever you can get, you take. They took it. Baseball is just a funny game."

Spring Creek (19-6 overall) took a 1-0 lead on Casey Whitfield's second-inning RBI single to right field. Princeton forged ahead 2-1 on Matt Daughtry's RBI double and Tyler Ricks' run-scoring single in the top half of the third.

The Gators regained the lead, 3-2, with single runs -- off throwing errors -- in the third and fifth innings. The Bulldogs plated the game-tying run thanks to a sixth-inning throwing error.

"It was a dogfight ... the best way to describe it and we knew it would be," Whitfield said. "We're so evenly matched. Both teams made some mistakes that hurt. Our guys battled all the way to the end and found a way (to win) against a heckuva ballclub."

The Gators set a new single-season record for wins (19) and punched their ticket to the eastern semifinals for the second consecutive season.

"Everybody doubted us at the beginning of the season and we weren't even predicted to coming close to winning the conference," Geelen said. "It feels awesome."