Photo by Jacques Morin
The common wisdom is there’s no such thing as momentum in baseball, a game that doesn’t ebb and flow like basketball, for example.
Wren Hash put that theory to the test on Friday night in Hillsborough.
With Orange clinging to a 4-3 lead against Williams, it appeared Hash’s at-bat against Bulldog reliever Bubba Sims would end after he tipped a pitch into the glove of catcher Chris Gonzalez. As Hash walked back to the dugout, he felt Gonzalez mitt touch his back. It was a strikeout.
Or was it?
Hash walked back to the umpire and asked whether it should have been ruled a foul ball since Gonzales dropped the ball. After some deliberation, the umpire decided Hash was right.
The subsequent events shifted the game in Orange’s favor. Hash didn’t stop fouling off pitches. With the count three balls and two strikes, two foul balls became three. Then three became four. The Orange fans grew louder with every pitch that Hash sent to the backstop meeting or down to the softball field.
Finally, on the 14th pitch of the at-bat, Hash lofted a fastball into right field to score courtesy runner Gavin Clayton. The roar emanating from the Orange fans along the first-base line could have been heard at nearby Orange Middle School.
It was the final run of the night. Reliever J.P. Rodio, a transfer from Northern Durham, shut down the Bulldogs as the Panthers prevailed 5-3 to end a two-game losing streak.
The Panthers (2-2) will open Big 7 Conference play against crosstown rival Cedar Ridge on Tuesday at Panther Field.
After being held to three hits in a 6-0 loss to Triton in Erwin on Thursday, the Panthers had four singles from its opening four batters against Williams. Rodio opened with a single up the middle, followed by designated hitter Oliver Van Tiem lining a fastball to left field. With sophomore Mason Bullard at the plate, Rodio timed a hit-and-run perfectly, sending Williams 3rd baseman Vince Coker over to cover the bag. Bullard bounced a curveball in the spot that Coker vacated, and the ball bounced into left field to score Rodio.
Bullard finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
In his first start, Orange junior Evan Parker went 2-for-2. Parker led off the second inning with a single to left field. After Rodio reached on an error, Bullard lined a 1-0 pitch down the left field line to vault the Panthers ahead 3-0.
Sims, a transfer from Southeast Alamance playing his first baseball game for Williams, was responsible for all three Bulldog runs. In the third, Sims lined a single to centerfield. After advancing to second on a balk and to third on a wild pitch, Sims scored off an error on a ball hit by Gonzalez.
Orange increased its lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the third when Jackson Nobles scored off a bases-loaded walk drawn by Rodio.
Sims lined a two-run single up the middle in the top of the fourth to score Logan Thompson and Cooper Marks, cutting the Orange lead to 4-3.
After Hash’s marathon at-bat, Rodio struck out six of the eleven batters he faced. He struck out the side in the seventh to end the game, earning his first win in a Panther uniform.
On Thursday, Triton defeated Orange 6-0 in Erwin. Hawks senior pitcher Brady Wilson struck out a career-high 13 batters, throwing a complete game, three-hit shutout.
Orange senior Ryan Sawyer struck out eight over five innings and held Triton without a hit in the opening four innings. Kason Brown broke up the no-hitter with a single to centerfield with one out in the fifth. Tyler Blankenbecler drove in the game-winning runs with a two-run double that landed just shy of the wall in centerfield to score Brown and Kaiden Jensen.
Wilson would add a two-run double in the sixth.
