You don't see this very often but both teams this afternoon stuck with their starting pitchers for the entire game as Riverheads squeezed out a 4-1 victory over visiting James River. To show you the amazing effort put forth by the two juniors (Asher Falls for Riverheads and Camden Saunders for the Knights) they combined for a whopping 197 pitches with Saunders topping the century mark with 107 and Falls hitting exactly 90.
As you can tell from that final score, runs were hard to come by as each hurler pretty much handcuffed the other team. In fact, all five runs were scored in an action-packed 4th inning. JR struck first when Jeremiah Mays drew a walk on an extended at-bat. He took second on a sacrifice bunt and on the next play, the Gladiators successfully nailed the batter at first, then attempted to double up Mays on his way to third. However, the throw was a little bit off and got away from the third baseman, allowing Mays to scamper home with the game's first run.
Riverheads then answered in the bottom of the frame to score the go-ahead and winning runs. Ironically the first two Gladiator runs were scored in a somewhat similar manner to the Knights' run. Riverheads had runners on second and third when a line-drive was hit straight to Saunders. He fielded it cleanly and then made what should have been an easy toss to third to double up the runner who had taken too much of a lead. However, that throw also went haywire and the Gladiators were able to bring both runners home to take a 2-1 lead.
For the rest of the inning, the Big Red produced a couple of timely hits (three total in that inning) to score a pair of insurance runs. From that point on, there were some mound visits but neither coach elected to take out his starter and the game wrapped up in around two hours, with each coach no doubt pleased with his team's effort.
This was a make-up date from an earlier rain out, and as a result the Gladiators have a regularly-scheduled Shenandoah District game Tuesday afternoon as they will host Stuarts Draft. That could be a tight one as the Big Red had to rally from behind the first time around to squeeze out a 7-5 win on the Cougar diamond. The Gladiators will need this one to stay on the trail of Wilson, which will come to Riverheads the following Tuesday for the biggest game of the regular season.
If you trust those weather forecasters, we should be OK for Tuesday's game as there will be some morning rain with clearing expected by mid-day. But it will probably still be a bundle-up day with that old reliable Greenville wind most likely making its presence felt.
As you can tell from that final score, runs were hard to come by as each hurler pretty much handcuffed the other team. In fact, all five runs were scored in an action-packed 4th inning. JR struck first when Jeremiah Mays drew a walk on an extended at-bat. He took second on a sacrifice bunt and on the next play, the Gladiators successfully nailed the batter at first, then attempted to double up Mays on his way to third. However, the throw was a little bit off and got away from the third baseman, allowing Mays to scamper home with the game's first run.
Riverheads then answered in the bottom of the frame to score the go-ahead and winning runs. Ironically the first two Gladiator runs were scored in a somewhat similar manner to the Knights' run. Riverheads had runners on second and third when a line-drive was hit straight to Saunders. He fielded it cleanly and then made what should have been an easy toss to third to double up the runner who had taken too much of a lead. However, that throw also went haywire and the Gladiators were able to bring both runners home to take a 2-1 lead.
For the rest of the inning, the Big Red produced a couple of timely hits (three total in that inning) to score a pair of insurance runs. From that point on, there were some mound visits but neither coach elected to take out his starter and the game wrapped up in around two hours, with each coach no doubt pleased with his team's effort.
This was a make-up date from an earlier rain out, and as a result the Gladiators have a regularly-scheduled Shenandoah District game Tuesday afternoon as they will host Stuarts Draft. That could be a tight one as the Big Red had to rally from behind the first time around to squeeze out a 7-5 win on the Cougar diamond. The Gladiators will need this one to stay on the trail of Wilson, which will come to Riverheads the following Tuesday for the biggest game of the regular season.
If you trust those weather forecasters, we should be OK for Tuesday's game as there will be some morning rain with clearing expected by mid-day. But it will probably still be a bundle-up day with that old reliable Greenville wind most likely making its presence felt.