Baseball -- Rams-Falcons tie due to weather

By David Williams
Published in Sports on April 1, 2004 1:59 PM

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SNOW HILL -- Eight innings were not enough to settle the issue Wednesday night between Greene Central and visiting South Central.

Mother Nature had more than enough.

Lightning and thunderstorms surrounded the Snow Hill area as the extra innings got underway, forcing both teams to settle for a 5-5 tie ending to the non-conference matchup at the James R. Fulghum Athletic Complex.

"I wish we could have finished it, and I'm sure coach Russell Brann wishes we could have, too," said South Central coach James "Peanut" Langston. "But we probably won't make it up because they are just starting conference."

In the early innings, Greene Central was putting everything together as starter Jordy Grady rolled through the first nine hitters. He hit the first batsman he faced, but the Ram defense bailed him out when Jared Williamson snared a Brandon Brown liner at third and caught John Allen Conway off first base for a double play.

"Jordy Grady did a great job," said Greene Central coach Russell Brann. "He pitched with guts, got in there and he was tough."

The Ram offense jumped out in the first inning as Joseph Wade drove in a run with a single to right and Williamson came through with a sacrifice fly to score Jordy Davis for a 2-0 lead. Greene Central (4-5-1) doubled the lead in the third inning as Matthew Tyndall drove in Travis Rouse with a grounder that took a big hop over the second baseman for an RBI hit. The other run came when South Central gave up an error on a routine ground out.

But South Central (7-2-1, 6-1) did not wait to go down with the dropping temperature.

As starter Logan Hessert stabilized and began to set the Rams down, the Falcons scratched up a pair of runs in the fourth off reliever Williamson. South Central capitalized on a hit batsman, two walks and a pair of errors by the Ram infield. The next inning, South Central tied it up on a two-run single from Matt Scoggin, scoring runners who had reached base on an error and a walk.

Wade wasted no time untying the game with a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the fifth to put the Rams back on top 5-4, but with six outs to go, the Falcons would not surrender.

Bill Hopkins singled to open the seventh, stole second on a close play, then moved over to third on a ground out. He scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly to deep center by Scoggin -- his third RBI of the game.

Langston was pleased with Hessert, a freshman making his first varsity start.

"I thought Hessert got stronger - that's a big positive," he said." I thought Logan Hessert did a great job for us, threw five strong innings.

"I'm going to walk out of here tonight proud of -- hopefully -- finding another arm," he said.

"It seems like this year. Every time we've got in a bind, it's with two outs," said Brann. "Those are plays we've got to make, but we don't make the play and we let the other team back in. That's part of the game."

"They kicked it around for us some, and we took advantage of some mistakes," said Langston. "But the positive we can take out of here is that we did battle back and we gave ourselves a chance to win."

South Central hosts Manteo on Friday, while Greene Central opens Eastern Plains 2-A Conference play Friday at home against North Pitt.

South Central 000 220 10 -- 5 5 2

Greene Central 202 010 00 -- 5 5 4

Leading hitters -- South Central -- Matt Scoggin 1-4, 3 RBI, SAC fly; John Allen Conway 1-3, SAC bunt; Brandon Brown 1-3; Bill Hopkins 1-4; Blake Johnson 1-4. Greene Central -- Joseph Wade 2-4, HR, 3 RBI; Hunter Chase 1-4; Travis Rouse 1-2; Matthew Tyndall 1-3, RBI; Jared Williamson SAC fly RBI.

IP H R ER BB SO

South Central

Logan Hessert 5 5 5 3 4 6

Ryan Benner 3 0 0 0 0 4

Greene Central

Jordy Grady 3 0 0 0 0 3

Jared Williamson 1 1 2 0 2 1

Travis Rouse 2 1 2 2 3 1

Jordy Davis 1 2 1 0 1 0

Matthew Whitley 1 1 0 0 1 1

HBP -- Conway (by Grady), Hopkins (by Williamson), Jamison (by Rouse). WP -- Hessert 2. PB -- Scoggin.