Another Shutout

We just discussed on our last  blog how pitching was going to be a big issue for all high school teams.  Teams that play more than two games a week will need a boat load of pitchers with the number of pitches per day being counted and depending on how many a pitcher throws today determines how many pitches that he can throw the rest of the week.

Case in point Rocky Mount Saturday traveled to South Johnston playing their fourth game this week.  Rocky Mount on the other hand played Monday and have at their disposal every pitcher that Pat Smith wants to use.  All this pitch count works into next week and Monday Rocky Mount travels to Corinth Holders so despite this being only their second game of the week the number of pitches today effects Monday.  You would figure Pat Smith needs to pitch some of his other throwers if for no other reason just to see what kind of pitching he has.

South Johnston lost Monday to 4A New Hanover 5-4.  Back on field Tuesday they beat 4A West Johnston 6-2.  They hosted 4A Clayton Friday afternoon and lost 10-9.  Today they give up 13 runs to Rocky Mount.  Do you see  a trend that pitching unless you are over run with throwers the more games you play each week the potential of running out of pitching will happen more than ever this year.

David Harrison gets the call to the mound as he has not thrown since Monday.  The Gryphons opened the scoring in the third after Zack Keeter singled. He moved to second on a sac bunt by Ben Saracki and scored on a single by Josh Piitman.

Two outs in the 6th but the Gryphons  plate three runs after two walks and a rbi single by Jamar Ellis. Zack Keeter  follows with a double. That plates two more runs.   David Harrison goes six inning giving up two hits and hit a batter and zero runs.  He throws 72 pitches.

Rocky Mount bats a round in the seventh scoring 9 times. David Harrison doubled home a run. Logan Pearce doubled home two.  Zack Keeter's third hit drove home another run. Chase Miller, Lane Butler and Josh Pittman walked with the bases loaded scoring three  more.  David Harrison rbi sac fly and a double by Isaiah  Stewart scored runs 12 and 13.  Ben Seracki gave up a double in the bottom of the 7th to give the Gryphons their second shutout or the year.

Final Rocky Mount 13 South Johnston 0.

David Harrison has opened the season pitching 9 innings  giving up two hits an a hit batter.  Freshman Ben Seracki has pitched five innings giving up three hits and a walk.  Hard to lose when the other side fails to score.

Pitching It's Every Thing In High School

We are a week into the high school baseball season and pitching is the talk of the baseball world.  Rocky Mount has played once and got a pitching shutout.  During that seven inning outing only  one walk and two hits were given up and yet it took 97 pitches 64 from Ben Seracki and 33 by David Harrison.

Nash Central opened their season against Smithfield Selma winning 7-4.  Bulldog veteran Zach Patterson threw 79 pitches.  Cameron Taylor tossed 9 and Trey Whitley tossed 35.  123 pitches total.  It is obvious from the early results that pitch counts are going to have a bigger say in who wins high school baseball than ever before.

Rocky Mount plays at South Johnston today at 1pm.  Monday they are at Corinth Holders.  Then Wednesday they are home against Bunn.  Three games in five days.  In a game where there wasn't any stress opening day they still threw almost 100 pitches. What's going to happen if they throw 125 pitches in all Three games next week.  Looks like they could need six pitchers  to get by.

The big question for Rocky Mount or any other team that plays three games in week where are they going to find six pitchers?

The first week of the baseball season has been a good one for Southern Nash.  Last night they bested East Wake 8-7 to start the season 3-0.  Earlier in the week they knocked off Princton12-2 and whipped SouthWest Edgecombe 11-0.

Nash Central has started 2-1 after falling to Rose Friday 9-2.  They won twice earlier in the week 7-4 over Smithfield Selma and 11-1 over Tarboro.

The team suffering the most this first week is Northern Nash.  Last night they suffered their third loss of the week to C B Aycock 7-1.  Earlier they fell to Roanoke Rapids  14-2 and Bunn 3-2. They have given up 24 runs in their first three games.

Rocky Mount starts their first stretch of three games in a week. By Wednesday we will have some idea of how much pitching  they have.