Eagles fend off Bulldogs' middle-inning rally

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on April 5, 2014 11:47 PM

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PRINCETON -- When Rosewood's baseball team has faltered this season, it's usually because of one bad defensive inning.

It nearly happened again Friday evening.

Princeton rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Rosewood limited the damage and shut the door, 7-5, in Carolina 1-A Conference play.

Reed Howell took the pitcher's mound and freshman Boone Moody moved to shortstop in the fourth inning. In the fifth, Moody faced three ground balls with tough hops that he couldn't quite handle and the wheels nearly fell off for the Eagles.

Princeton got two runs, but Rosewood gathered its composure and stopped the bleeding. Moody overcame his tough luck from earlier in the inning and made a nice charging snare on a ball up the middle.

He threw to first for the second out of the inning.

With Bulldog runners on the corners, Rosewood catcher Ethan Chapin faked throwing the ball down to second base. He threw it back to Howell, who caught Princeton's Waylon Woodall in a run-down situation.

Chapin made the tag to end the threat.

"Any time you can minimize the errors, wipe it off the board to speak, that's huge," Rosewood head coach Jason King said. "Boone showed that. He's a good player for us. I told him during the game 'you got to have a short memory bud, you'll get another chance.'

"And he did and he made a play for us."

Howell, who took a cleat to the collarbone on a stolen-base attempt in the first inning, kept the Bulldogs collared during the final two innings.

Howell relieved starting pitcher Jordan Gurley, who got the win on the mound. Gurley admitted he didn't have his best stuff, giving up three runs in three innings before giving the ball to Howell.

"I was ready to come and throw some heat," Howell said of coming in relief. "It didn't go as smoothly as I planned but we got out of here with a win, so that's good."

The Eagles (7-4 overall, 6-1 CC) scored five runs in the first three innings combined, but the Bulldogs (4-8, 1-5) responded with three of their own in the third. Head coach Bruce Proctor loved the way his team battled back after being down 5-0 early.

"We could have easily rolled over and played dead," Proctor said. "We are heading in the right direction. I'm proud of these guys."