In a battle of unbeaten teams in Greenville on Tuesday, Riverheads beat East Rockingham 3-2 to go to 7-0 on the season. The Eagles are now 6-1.The stars of the game were no doubt the starting pitchers as both Riverheads' Kyle Bishop and East Rocks' Chase Comer pretty much kept both teams bats quiet throughout the game. Bishop, now 3-0 on the year, threw only 68 pitches in seven innings and only allowed three hits, two in the last inning. Comer only threw 72 pitches in his six innings and only giving up four hits. However, the difference in the game was one bad inning for the Eagles' defense in the bottom of the third with two errors leading to three unearned runs.
After both pitchers sailed through the first two innings, it looked like Comer would do the same in the top of the third, getting the first two batters out. However, Chance Staton blooped a single just over the shortstop's head and later went to second when Comer's pickoff attempt bounced away from the first baseman. Bishop then hit a grounder to the shortstop but the throw couldn't be handled by the first baseman and Staton scored. Zach Roberts then hit the next pitch to deep right field. It looked like the outfielder would make the catch, however the ball continued to carry just out of the fielder's glove over the fence for the Gladiators first home run of the season and that gave the home team a 3-0 lead.
East Rockingham answered in the top of the fourth when Isaac Dean led off the inning with a double to right centerfield. After moving to third on a ground out, Dean scored on a sacrifice fly by Shannon Cross to cut Riverheads' margin to 3-1. That seemed to settle Comer down for the Eagles as the senior pitcher only allowed one walk the last three innings to keep East Rockingham within striking distance. However, the Eagles' batters did not have an answer for Bishop as he only threw 12 pitches to get out of the 5th and 6th innings combined.
Things got interesting in the top of the seventh when East Rockingham's Cross led off the inning with a double, followed by Riley Hensley's single up the middle, scoring Cross, and the Eagles had the tying run on base with no outs. Comer moved Cross to scoring position with a sacrifice bunt but Bishop bared down and got the next two batters to fly out and ground out respectively to preserve the win for the Gladiators.
Riverheads is back in action on Wednesday when the travel to Staunton to take on Robert E. Lee, a team the Gladiators beat to open the season 5-3.
After both pitchers sailed through the first two innings, it looked like Comer would do the same in the top of the third, getting the first two batters out. However, Chance Staton blooped a single just over the shortstop's head and later went to second when Comer's pickoff attempt bounced away from the first baseman. Bishop then hit a grounder to the shortstop but the throw couldn't be handled by the first baseman and Staton scored. Zach Roberts then hit the next pitch to deep right field. It looked like the outfielder would make the catch, however the ball continued to carry just out of the fielder's glove over the fence for the Gladiators first home run of the season and that gave the home team a 3-0 lead.
East Rockingham answered in the top of the fourth when Isaac Dean led off the inning with a double to right centerfield. After moving to third on a ground out, Dean scored on a sacrifice fly by Shannon Cross to cut Riverheads' margin to 3-1. That seemed to settle Comer down for the Eagles as the senior pitcher only allowed one walk the last three innings to keep East Rockingham within striking distance. However, the Eagles' batters did not have an answer for Bishop as he only threw 12 pitches to get out of the 5th and 6th innings combined.
Things got interesting in the top of the seventh when East Rockingham's Cross led off the inning with a double, followed by Riley Hensley's single up the middle, scoring Cross, and the Eagles had the tying run on base with no outs. Comer moved Cross to scoring position with a sacrifice bunt but Bishop bared down and got the next two batters to fly out and ground out respectively to preserve the win for the Gladiators.
Riverheads is back in action on Wednesday when the travel to Staunton to take on Robert E. Lee, a team the Gladiators beat to open the season 5-3.
