Season Ends With More What If's

The 2014 Rocky Mount baseball season is over.  It was a season in which they beat every team in the league but one.  Three times they tried but not nary a victory over Nash Central.  Tonight Rocky Mount out hits the Bulldogs nine to four but when it counted failed to get any the last three innings and in the seventh they had the bases loaded but failed to get the big hit.  Nash Central advances to the semi finals of the Big East Baseball tournament with a 5-3 victory over the Gryphons.

Rocky Mount scored three in the second on a Will Edwards single after Blake Helms and David Harrison had reached with singles.  Andy Morris doubled with the bases loaded and after the three runs had runners on second and third that didn't score any more.

Nash Central tied it up in the bottom of the third after three walks, two errors and a wild pitch allowed the Bulldogs to cross the plate without getting a hit.  The fourth Nash Central plated two runs on a walk and a hit by Khalil Macklin.  Kyle Taylor's double scored the two runners and that would prove to be the winning runs. The Bulldogs chased Gryphon starter Cody Smith who allowed three hits but walked six and four of the walks scored. Smith struck out six Nash Central batters.  Blake Helms in relief gave up a hit  to the first batter he faced but that was it for the Bulldogs as Helms pitched two and one thirds innings striking out four of the seven outs he registered.

Kalalil Macklin went four innings for the Bulldogs and was rocked for all three runs and nine hits that the Gryphons got.  Macklin gets the win because he walked but one batter and his defense didn't give away runs.  David Sutton pitch the last three innings didn't give up a hit didn't walk any one until the seventh when he walked one and hit two batters and his only strikeout of the night was the last batter of the game.

The Bulldogs only other batter to get a hit was  a first inning single by Matt Askew. Andy Morris collect three hits for the Gryphons leading the hitting parade.  Forest Bell, Josh Carter, Blake Helms Ben Yates, Will Edwards and up from the jv's David Harrison got his first varsity hit playing as the DH.

Nash Central returns to the diamond Thursday night as they advance to play Northern Nash at Northern.  Also tonight Fike beat Southern Nash 10-5 so they play at Hunt Thursday.  That sets up a Wilson County-Nash County finals against the two winner Saturday at the highest seeded teams remaining.