Gladiators Sweep Series from East Rock

[longtimerhsfan]

The Riverheads Gladiators remained unbeaten tonight by knocking off their top competition in the Shenandoah, the East Rockingham Eagles, 4-1 in a game played in perfect weather on the Eagles' home diamond. East Rock is now something like 12-2, with both losses coming against RHS. The two teams seem almost certain to be the 1 and 2 seeds in the Conference 36 playoffs later this month. However, Riverheads especially cannot let up because I think they have six games left against Shenandoah teams and four of those are on the road.

I am sure that our play-by-play guy JH will come on with the full recap and stats for us before the weekend is out, so I will just hit the highlights. Sophomore Colt Miller earned the win for the Big Red with six strong innings before Billy Coffin came in to earn the save. Miller kept the Eagles at bay all the way to the bottom of the sixth when they scratched for their lone run of the game. RHS was ahead at the time 3-0, and once Miller got the home team out, the Gladiators got that run right back in the top of the 7th to re-establish the three-run margin. Prior to that, RHS struck for single runs in the 3rd, 4th and 5th, two of which came as a direct result of East Rock errors.

One thing I noticed was that both teams hit the ball hard all game as there were probably a dozen or more deep balls, some of which took the outfielders to the fence and there were a number of impressive catches. Both coaches had to be proud but yet frustrated to see their guys hitting so aggressively but in most cases directly at someone. I can only remember one of those deep ones, a solid double by RHS' Zach Roberts in the top of the first, that found a hole in the outfield.

As I had predicted last night, RHS had a great following at the game and may have even outnumbered the home fans. But I guess it is only fair to mention that there were two other events going on at the same time, so maybe the Eagles fans had to pick and choose where to be.

OK, JH do your thing.

 

[jhwright]

Sorry for the delay...busy weekend.

This was a big win for Riverheads in solidifying the number one spot in Conference 36 in getting the season sweep over East Rockingham. However, I don't think this will be the last time these two teams meet up.

Colt Miller, now 4-0 on the season, did another outstanding job on the mound for the Gladiators going six innings and only allowing one earn run. Other than in the sixth inning where he gave up the run, the junior southpaw was only in trouble one other time. That was in the third when the Eagles had runners on third and second with two outs but Miller got the last batter to ground out to end the threat. Overall, Miller let his defense do most of the work as he only struck out three. The others outs were on groundouts (4) and fly balls (15).

Speaking of fly balls, as longtimerhsfan mentioned, both teams hit the ball hard last night. However, East Rockingham's field is one of the deepest in the area with center field fence 378 feet from home plate and this gave both outfields plenty of time to get to balls that would have been home runs in other parks.

The Eagles pitcher, Noah Brown, did a good job on the mound but on a couple of occasions he threw wild and it cost him. Riverheads scored two runs on wild pitches, one in the third and the other in the fifth.

Riverheads scored an unearned run in the fourth when Ethan Whitehead led off with a single and later stole second. The next two batters popped out brining up Taz Miller who hit an infield single up the middle. East Rock's shortstop made a nice stop to keep the ball going into the outfield that would have held Whitehead on third. However, the shortstop made an ill-advised throw to first that was off the mark, allowing Whitehead to score. Riverheads added an insurance run in the 7th when Billy Coffin hit an RBI single to center scoring Nathan Brooks who earlier walked. Coffin then went to the mound and pitched the bottom of the seventh to get the save.

Riverheads is now scheduled to play three games this week. They will be at Page County Tuseday, travel to Nelson County on Wednesday for a make-up game, and then come home on Friday with a game against last years Group A, Division 2 State Champions, Wilson.

 

[longtimerhsfan]

Thanks for the details. I wondered about the depth of that park, so you clarified that issue for us.

Busy week ahead, but I understand there is also some more rain in the forecast, so who knows what might happen. Fortunately the Big Red has a deep pitching staff that can handle that many games over such a short span.