Golden Falcons throttle Eagles

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 5, 2004 1:57 PM

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What a difference a week makes.

Last Thursday, Wayne County was digging itself out of upwards of seven inches of snow. Thursday afternoon under beautiful 70-degree plus conditions, Charles B. Aycock kicked off its 2004 baseball season with an impressive 8-3 win at Rosewood.

The game was all about pitcher Phillip Cunningham, consistent Golden Falcon hitting and aggressive base running.

"It's always nice to start the season with a win," said Aycock coach Charles Davis. "We've got lots of things to work on, though. We left 15 people on base. It was a typical first game."

Cunningham, who toiled in the shadows of Dustin Sasser and Rob Wooten, was especially sharp in his first outing. In six innings, he allowed but one hit to Dustin Overman, struck out 13 and walked two. He struck out the side twice and two of the three batters he faced in three other innings.

The Aycock offense was in midseason form as it knocked out 12 hits. In the Golden Falcons' four scoring innings, they had at least two, along with testing the Eagles defense by taking that extra base.

Rosewood made it a ball game for the first four innings. In fact, the Eagles held a 3-2 lead going into the top of the fifth. Matt Craft, Overman, and Josh Allen scored in their half of the third the result of a walk, a hit batter, a catcher's interference call, and three errors.

Errors were the downfall of Rosewood pitcher Micheal Render. Render pitched well, striking out six through 41Ú3 innings, but was charged with five unearned runs. The Eagles made seven miscues on the night.

Aycock broke the game open in the top of the fourth, scoring four runs on three hits. After walks to Alex Raper and Josh Kirby, a double by Jarrod Gouty along with singles by Mathew Waddell and Cunningham did the damage.

Two more errors along with singles by Will Spence, Raper, and a double by Drew McGowan gave the Falcons two more insurance runs.

"We played a great ball game for four innings," said Rosewood coach Scott Adams. "Then, we got physically and mentally tired. Aycock is a great ball team. They're very fundamentally sound and don't make many mistakes."

Rosewood's future, however, is bright.

"My basketball guys just got here this week," said Adams. "They've only practiced three times. Until we get these guys in shape, we're a little shorthanded."

Aycock will travel to Goldsboro next Tuesday afternoon in their Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference opener.

"We start league play early," said Davis. "That's the stepping stone to the playoffs."

Rosewood is the guest of Hobbton next Tuesday.