For the second night in a row, the Gladiators ran into a pitcher that had command of his game on the mound but also helped his own cause at the plate, as sophomore Gage Wood led the home-standing Green Hornets to a 9-2 victory tonight. This was just one of those years in which WMHS had the Big Red's number as they won by a similar score earlier at Riverheads.
After starting RHS pitcher Austin Craft walked in the first run of the night in the bottom of the second, Wood stepped up to the plate with the sacks still full of Hornets. He smacked one deep into right center that Bradley Roberts tried gamely to field but just missed and all three base runners came around to score to make it 4-0.
Wilson added two more runs in the fourth to go up 6-0 before the Gladiators scored their two in the top of the fifth as long-overdue Ridge Stokes sent one over the fence in far left field. The Big Red then mounted its final threat in the sixth by putting runners on second and third but could not bring them home.
In the bottom of the frame, Wilson moved its lead from comfortable to commanding as they tallied three more runs, two of which came on a round-tripper by Woods' classmate Ty Hevener. RHS then went down in the top of the 7th without a serious threat.
Wood went the distance, tossing about 105 pitches (the scoreboard at Wilson keeps up with those, which is a handy feature) whereas Craft took the loss, as he was touched for six of the nine runs before being relieved in the sixth by freshman Elijah Dunlap.
These two are now finished with one another for the season, since they will be in different playoff divisions, but both are young teams and should remain in the thick of things for the foreseeable future. Despite this week's back-to-back losses, Riverheads remains in a good position in Conference 44 and might still make a deep playoff run because of facing such a high number of 2-A opponents.
Next up is a trip to Stonewall slated for Friday, but after having to use their top three pitchers significantly in both games this week, a rain-out Friday to give them more rest would almost be the best thing RHS could hope for.
After starting RHS pitcher Austin Craft walked in the first run of the night in the bottom of the second, Wood stepped up to the plate with the sacks still full of Hornets. He smacked one deep into right center that Bradley Roberts tried gamely to field but just missed and all three base runners came around to score to make it 4-0.
Wilson added two more runs in the fourth to go up 6-0 before the Gladiators scored their two in the top of the fifth as long-overdue Ridge Stokes sent one over the fence in far left field. The Big Red then mounted its final threat in the sixth by putting runners on second and third but could not bring them home.
In the bottom of the frame, Wilson moved its lead from comfortable to commanding as they tallied three more runs, two of which came on a round-tripper by Woods' classmate Ty Hevener. RHS then went down in the top of the 7th without a serious threat.
Wood went the distance, tossing about 105 pitches (the scoreboard at Wilson keeps up with those, which is a handy feature) whereas Craft took the loss, as he was touched for six of the nine runs before being relieved in the sixth by freshman Elijah Dunlap.
These two are now finished with one another for the season, since they will be in different playoff divisions, but both are young teams and should remain in the thick of things for the foreseeable future. Despite this week's back-to-back losses, Riverheads remains in a good position in Conference 44 and might still make a deep playoff run because of facing such a high number of 2-A opponents.
Next up is a trip to Stonewall slated for Friday, but after having to use their top three pitchers significantly in both games this week, a rain-out Friday to give them more rest would almost be the best thing RHS could hope for.
