There were no towering three-run homers clearing the press box today, but just plenty of good solid hitting and a heavy dose of aggressive base-running as the Big Red rolled over Stonewall 10-1 to advance to the Region B title game. One local paper reports that the Gladiators outscored Stonewall 46-2 in four games this season.
The Gladiators now move to the regional final Friday at 12 noon (NOTE: NEW TIME!) where they will host William Campbell. But more importantly today's wins by those two teams puts each in the state tournament, which begins Tuesday. The winner of Friday's regional final will host the Region A runner-up, whereas Friday's loser faces a long road trip to face the Region A champs.
It took RHS a little while to get cranked up today as it was only 3-0 after three innings. But they added three more in the fourth and capped things off with a four-run fifth inning. In one of the oddest plays of the day, they scored two runs in the fifth on the same wild pitch. Juniors Braeson Fulton and Grant Painter, the Gladiators' two JMU commits, combined for six of the home team's 10 hits.
Elijah Dunlap, who had not been feeling well the past few days, rose to the challenge and had a no-hitter heading into the sixth. But the Generals touched him for three hits and their only run before Casey Butler relieved him in the 7th and put away the final three Generals batters.
The Gladiators now move to the regional final Friday at 12 noon (NOTE: NEW TIME!) where they will host William Campbell. But more importantly today's wins by those two teams puts each in the state tournament, which begins Tuesday. The winner of Friday's regional final will host the Region A runner-up, whereas Friday's loser faces a long road trip to face the Region A champs.
It took RHS a little while to get cranked up today as it was only 3-0 after three innings. But they added three more in the fourth and capped things off with a four-run fifth inning. In one of the oddest plays of the day, they scored two runs in the fifth on the same wild pitch. Juniors Braeson Fulton and Grant Painter, the Gladiators' two JMU commits, combined for six of the home team's 10 hits.
Elijah Dunlap, who had not been feeling well the past few days, rose to the challenge and had a no-hitter heading into the sixth. But the Generals touched him for three hits and their only run before Casey Butler relieved him in the 7th and put away the final three Generals batters.
