Based on comparing scores against common opponents, RHS should have been favored this afternoon when the Little Giants made the short trip down to Greenville. But giving credit where it is due, the visitors played an outstanding game in all areas and enjoyed a ride back home with a well-deserved win.
I won't be able to name names but # 9 pitched six strong innings for the Giants and his reliever (#3) put the Big Red down in short order in the bottom of the seventh to squelch any ideas the Gladiators might have had of producing a walk-off victory. The Giants were also solid in the field, including turning an inning-ending double play. They did not get many hits off the two Riverheads pitchers that worked the game but they got enough timely ones to get the job done.
One particular at-bat in the top of the second inning gave the Giants two of their three runs and was definitely one to remember. It was player number 1 and don't quote me, but I may have caught the name Breeden.
He stepped to the plate with bases loaded and one out. The game was scoreless at the time so of course the home fans wanted a double play to get out of the jam, and he wanted to bring home some of those base runners. No one could have anticipated the ferocious battle we were about to witness.
I personally lost count but I am sure he fouled off a minimum of eight pitches and it may have been as many as ten. The starting Gladiator pitcher, Ethan Fitzgerald, was throwing strikes, so he was doing his job, but the batter just refused to strike out.
It became a matter of survival of the fittest and the fans on both sides were anxious to see who would finally prevail. On what must have been at least the 10th or 11th pitch of the at bat, he was finally able to smack one down the first base line that made it into right field. Two runs scored to give the Giants a lead they would not relinquish. The damage could have been worse because that left runners on second and third, with the potential to score two more runs.
However, RHS did work out of the jam without further damage so they could stay within reach. To show how crazy that inning was, Fitzgerald's pitch count had been 13 after a very efficient first inning, but by the end of the second it was in the upper 40s. He would eventually be replaced after four innings by David Austin, which turned out to be a story in itself.
During those four innings when the Giants were clinging to that 2-0 lead, Riverheads was not having any trouble whatsoever making contact. The only problem was that just about every time someone hit the ball it was right at someone. More often than not, the Giant fielders did not have to move to make the catch. So the placement of the ball was the major difference today as Waynesboro could find the gaps when they needed to but Riverheads could not.
When Austin came aboard to start the fifth, things did get rather interesting. Gladiator fans knew that a two-run lead was not safe by any means and that the home team always has the advantage of the last at bat. So when Austin retired the side in about a dozen pitches to open the fifth, leaving the Gladiators nine outs left to only six for the Giants, most Big Red fans still had hopes for pulling this one out.
Those hopes briefly soared through the roof in the bottom half of the fifth when Austin helped his own cause by smacking one over the left field fence to trim the lead to 2-1. I am told that was the first Big Red home run of the season.
However, the Giant defense rose to the occasion and the already-credited duo of Giant pitchers kept Riverheads from getting any closer and yet another timely hit for Waynesboro gave them an insurance run in the top of the 7th.
With the loss, Riverheads is now 2-2 in league play but oddly the two losses have been at home in pitchers' duels, whereas the two victories have been double-digit routs on the road, as they won 12-0 at Stuarts Draft and 15-4 at Fort Defiance. With the next district game Friday at Buffalo Gap, hopefully that trend will continue so they can rise above .500 in league play as we near the halfway point.
As for the frustrating home losses, they don' t have much time to ponder that, because the Central Falcons are heading down 81 for a Wednesday afternoon non-district make-up date. Riverheads won 5-0 in Woodstock last Wednesday and would very much like to sweep the series.
I won't be able to name names but # 9 pitched six strong innings for the Giants and his reliever (#3) put the Big Red down in short order in the bottom of the seventh to squelch any ideas the Gladiators might have had of producing a walk-off victory. The Giants were also solid in the field, including turning an inning-ending double play. They did not get many hits off the two Riverheads pitchers that worked the game but they got enough timely ones to get the job done.
One particular at-bat in the top of the second inning gave the Giants two of their three runs and was definitely one to remember. It was player number 1 and don't quote me, but I may have caught the name Breeden.
He stepped to the plate with bases loaded and one out. The game was scoreless at the time so of course the home fans wanted a double play to get out of the jam, and he wanted to bring home some of those base runners. No one could have anticipated the ferocious battle we were about to witness.
I personally lost count but I am sure he fouled off a minimum of eight pitches and it may have been as many as ten. The starting Gladiator pitcher, Ethan Fitzgerald, was throwing strikes, so he was doing his job, but the batter just refused to strike out.
It became a matter of survival of the fittest and the fans on both sides were anxious to see who would finally prevail. On what must have been at least the 10th or 11th pitch of the at bat, he was finally able to smack one down the first base line that made it into right field. Two runs scored to give the Giants a lead they would not relinquish. The damage could have been worse because that left runners on second and third, with the potential to score two more runs.
However, RHS did work out of the jam without further damage so they could stay within reach. To show how crazy that inning was, Fitzgerald's pitch count had been 13 after a very efficient first inning, but by the end of the second it was in the upper 40s. He would eventually be replaced after four innings by David Austin, which turned out to be a story in itself.
During those four innings when the Giants were clinging to that 2-0 lead, Riverheads was not having any trouble whatsoever making contact. The only problem was that just about every time someone hit the ball it was right at someone. More often than not, the Giant fielders did not have to move to make the catch. So the placement of the ball was the major difference today as Waynesboro could find the gaps when they needed to but Riverheads could not.
When Austin came aboard to start the fifth, things did get rather interesting. Gladiator fans knew that a two-run lead was not safe by any means and that the home team always has the advantage of the last at bat. So when Austin retired the side in about a dozen pitches to open the fifth, leaving the Gladiators nine outs left to only six for the Giants, most Big Red fans still had hopes for pulling this one out.
Those hopes briefly soared through the roof in the bottom half of the fifth when Austin helped his own cause by smacking one over the left field fence to trim the lead to 2-1. I am told that was the first Big Red home run of the season.
However, the Giant defense rose to the occasion and the already-credited duo of Giant pitchers kept Riverheads from getting any closer and yet another timely hit for Waynesboro gave them an insurance run in the top of the 7th.
With the loss, Riverheads is now 2-2 in league play but oddly the two losses have been at home in pitchers' duels, whereas the two victories have been double-digit routs on the road, as they won 12-0 at Stuarts Draft and 15-4 at Fort Defiance. With the next district game Friday at Buffalo Gap, hopefully that trend will continue so they can rise above .500 in league play as we near the halfway point.
As for the frustrating home losses, they don' t have much time to ponder that, because the Central Falcons are heading down 81 for a Wednesday afternoon non-district make-up date. Riverheads won 5-0 in Woodstock last Wednesday and would very much like to sweep the series.
