Eagles rally to put down Gator uprising, advance

The Eagles advanced to the Deacon Jones Invitational championship game, but the Gators of Spring Creek didn’t exactly roll over Thursday.

Rosewood rolled early in that game, as David Smeltzer drilled his third home run of the season in the first inning. Holt Rains followed him across the plate after drawing a walk and Taylor Allen chased him home with a double.

The Eagles added a run in the second on three Gator errors, and added another in the third, with Cody Richards delivering the run-producing single.

The Gators rallied with the help of some shaky Eagle defense in the bottom of the fifth, as Spring Creek took a 5-4 advantage.

RHS’s Matt Neal stroked a sacrifice fly that brought the tying run in in the sixth. The next frame, Garrett Howell was the hero, knocking a screamer down the third base line that brought two more runs home, provided the final 7-5 margin.

Smeltzer and Chris Hare led the Eagle hitters with two hits apiece.
Allen got the win on the mound in relief, going the final 3 2/3 innings, giving up just three hits and two walks while striking out one. Josh Hamilton worked the first 3 1/3, giving up three earned runs on six hits. He struck out two.

Rosewood Coach Josh Smith was talking about the strong pitching performances he got from Hamilton and Allen in the tournament. He also pointed to a couple of key defensive plays, when Neal picked a runner off and Chris Hare made a key cutoff throw to help get a runner.

Smeltzer was named most valuable player in the tournament. Howell, Richards and Allen also were named to the all-tournament team.

Rosewood (11-3, 3-1 in the conference) is at Ayden-Grifton Friday, and hosts North Johnston next Tuesday.

Daniel Gerrell, Andrew Cobb and Adam Nethercutt were Princeton players who earned all tournament recognition.

Princeton (12-5, 4-0) is at SSS Wednesday, and hosts Spring Creek Friday.

    Issue Archives