A pair of very young teams met tonight in gloomy blustery conditions at Riverheads as the Gladiators celebrated the careers of their two departing seniors Bennett Dunlap and Luke Edward with a 12-5 win over visiting Waynesboro. The Little Giants only have three seniors on their roster which makes the future look bright for both teams.
However as it turned out, it was a very impressive performance by RHS freshman Brody Phillips that stole the spotlight away from the seniors as he went 4-4 at the plate and also took the mound in the third inning and pitched five shutout frames to turn back the visitors and earn the victory. He was especially strong in the sixth when he sent three consecutive Waynesboro batters back to the dugout on strikes after the two before them had reached base safely.
The Little Giants were fashionably late arriving today and as a result the game did not start until 5:20. But for the first two frames they showed some serious fight as they took a 1-0 first inning lead and then hit the Gladiators with a four-run second to grab a surprising 5-2 lead.
However, RHS struck back in the bottom of the frame to tie things up at 5-5 and after a scoreless third inning, the Gladiators plated three in the fourth to regain the lead and then put it out of reach with a four-run fifth inning. Meanwhile Phillips was in control on the mound with one of the Big Red's better performances of the season. It is worth noting that with former pitcher Dunlap seeing almost no mound duty this year, for all practical purposes the entire Gladiator pitching staff will return next year. In fact every returning Gladiator hurler has at least TWO more years after this one!
Waynesboro's early surge came simply from solid hitting and aggressive base-running. Their first run of the game came on a nicely executed double steal and they banged out at least 5 or 6 of their 9 hits during those first two productive frames before Phillips came aboard and pretty much handcuffed them the rest of the way.
Defense however was Waynesboro's real downfall, although some of that could be blamed on the wind. They had six miscues on the day, two of which were dropped fly balls. Yet at other times they were sharp in the field as they turned not one but two inning-ending double plays.
But once RHS got into the flow of the game, a whole army of Waynesboro pitchers could not slow down the Gladiator offense as Phillips' four base knocks led a 15-hit attack, and remember the home team only batted six times. Contrary to Waynesboro's fielding problems, Riverheads only committed one harmless error, making this one a pretty solid all around game for the Big Red.
Next up for Riverheads is a Wednesday trip to Staunton where The Storm can sometimes be difficult to deal with. RHS only won that one 3-2 the first time around. As for playoffs, a topic being discussed in another thread, RHS is currently the third seed in the six-team Region 1-B field. If that holds up, they should get to host a first round playoff game.
So congrats to the team for the big win and best wishes to Dunlap and Edward as they move on beyond Saturday's graduation ceremonies. While the boys needed almost 2 1/2 hours to put this one in the books tonight, the exact opposite was the case next door as the Lady Gladiators routed Waynesboro 11-0 in a 4 1/2 inning game that barely took an hour. This is not official but I overheard something about that one being a no-hitter and barely missing being a perfect game for Gladiator pitcher Destiny Good. The RHS girls are also in solid position for the playoffs.
However as it turned out, it was a very impressive performance by RHS freshman Brody Phillips that stole the spotlight away from the seniors as he went 4-4 at the plate and also took the mound in the third inning and pitched five shutout frames to turn back the visitors and earn the victory. He was especially strong in the sixth when he sent three consecutive Waynesboro batters back to the dugout on strikes after the two before them had reached base safely.
The Little Giants were fashionably late arriving today and as a result the game did not start until 5:20. But for the first two frames they showed some serious fight as they took a 1-0 first inning lead and then hit the Gladiators with a four-run second to grab a surprising 5-2 lead.
However, RHS struck back in the bottom of the frame to tie things up at 5-5 and after a scoreless third inning, the Gladiators plated three in the fourth to regain the lead and then put it out of reach with a four-run fifth inning. Meanwhile Phillips was in control on the mound with one of the Big Red's better performances of the season. It is worth noting that with former pitcher Dunlap seeing almost no mound duty this year, for all practical purposes the entire Gladiator pitching staff will return next year. In fact every returning Gladiator hurler has at least TWO more years after this one!
Waynesboro's early surge came simply from solid hitting and aggressive base-running. Their first run of the game came on a nicely executed double steal and they banged out at least 5 or 6 of their 9 hits during those first two productive frames before Phillips came aboard and pretty much handcuffed them the rest of the way.
Defense however was Waynesboro's real downfall, although some of that could be blamed on the wind. They had six miscues on the day, two of which were dropped fly balls. Yet at other times they were sharp in the field as they turned not one but two inning-ending double plays.
But once RHS got into the flow of the game, a whole army of Waynesboro pitchers could not slow down the Gladiator offense as Phillips' four base knocks led a 15-hit attack, and remember the home team only batted six times. Contrary to Waynesboro's fielding problems, Riverheads only committed one harmless error, making this one a pretty solid all around game for the Big Red.
Next up for Riverheads is a Wednesday trip to Staunton where The Storm can sometimes be difficult to deal with. RHS only won that one 3-2 the first time around. As for playoffs, a topic being discussed in another thread, RHS is currently the third seed in the six-team Region 1-B field. If that holds up, they should get to host a first round playoff game.
So congrats to the team for the big win and best wishes to Dunlap and Edward as they move on beyond Saturday's graduation ceremonies. While the boys needed almost 2 1/2 hours to put this one in the books tonight, the exact opposite was the case next door as the Lady Gladiators routed Waynesboro 11-0 in a 4 1/2 inning game that barely took an hour. This is not official but I overheard something about that one being a no-hitter and barely missing being a perfect game for Gladiator pitcher Destiny Good. The RHS girls are also in solid position for the playoffs.
