Game Four Washed Out

A steady rain since about six pm and ever so often  clap of thunder brought an end to any chance of getting game four in at Legion Field tonight.  The real question is does a rainout help a depleted pitching staff or not?  You must remember that Raleigh gets an extra day of rest for a pitching staff that is deeper than Post 58.

Let's talk for a second about the way this season has unfolded.  Remember after the disaster of last season and the Windsors, Albemarles and Edentons having to forfeit so many games Joe Bell Post 58 Athletic officer and Hank Jones didn't want to go through last year again so the moved to the Western Division and I think the answer is yes this was a good move.

The quality of competition is better in fact the only bad team in the league was Roxboro.  As for Post 58 you have to remember that the bulk of our players are Big East 3-A then the Rocky Mount private schools and 2A Roanoke Rapids.  Raleigh simply man for man has better players than P 58 since everyone of their players played in Raleigh or Durham in 4-A leagues. So far this season high school or Legion have not seen a better player than Riverside's Jack Conley as a rising senior has committed to State.

Despite looking better, this series has come down to getting strikes across the plate.  The bats used in high school the last two years just will not fly out of Legion Field. Post 58 takes three singles to score a run.  When you only get seven to nine hits per night that adds up to three runs when the pitching keeps men off base from walks.  Every inning or several innings when P 58 pitching did not allow walks even Raleigh has trouble scoring runs.

This rainout puts Post one in the catbird seat because another rainout and this series is over Raleigh winning because they won game one. Game four  is a Rocky Mount home game so if it was rained out again Friday then game four is a home game for Rocky Mount and Raleigh will not be willing  to play a double header considering they are the home team in game five.

Game four is reset for 7pm Friday with Raleigh leading the series two games to one.  The semi final round ends Saturday with the division finals starting Sunday.  Raleigh advances they will host the first game Sunday at Fleming Stadium in Wilson.  As the top seed they would be the home team for game three and five which would be Tuesday, Thursday and those two would be in Rocky Mount.  If Rocky Mount pulls a rabbit out of the hat they would host games two and four as the four seed.

There was a really nice crowd in the stands Wednesday and hopefully with good weather another big gate.  So far this season Post 58 is 3-0  when facing elimination.