Gryphons muster only two hits in loss to Wendell Corinth-Holders

Wesley Drake tosses the ball to a teammate against Corinth Holders on Friday at Rocky Mount High School.

Rocky Mount High’s Forrest Bell throws the ball against Corinth Holders on Friday at Rocky Mount High School.

Corinth Holders catcher Carson Sakowski, left, tags out Rocky Mount High’s Deangelo Collins on Friday at Rocky Mount High School.

Since his first day back with Rocky Mount High’s baseball team last September, Gryphons coach Pat Smith has been trying to change the culture and attitude surrounding his program.

He knew it wasn’t going to happen in the first few months, or even in the first season. It’s going to be a process, and Smith knows that as well as anyone.

After Friday’s game, a 7-1 Gryphons loss to Wendell Corinth-Holders, well, the process is still in its infancy.

Rocky Mount High was out-hit, 10-2, and struggled to retire Pirates hitters in favorable counts and with two outs. The Pirates scored five of their seven runs with two outs.

“We’ve got a long, long way to go,” Smith said. “We’ve known that was the case since I took over here. We’re trying to find the nine, 10, 11 guys that can do things the right way and can play hard.”

David Harrison (5 IP, 6 H, 5 R (3 ER), 0 BB, 6 K) took the loss for Rocky Mount High (3-2 overall), but his outing could have been far different if not for some two-out magic by Corinth-Holders and a few self-inflicted wounds.

Harrison, a junior left-hander who committed to N.C. State over the summer, retired the first two Pirates batters he saw on Friday, before Kahlil Hodge laced a two-out double into the gap in left-center. The next batter, Will Jones, roped a ground ball down the third-base line and past the out-stretched glove of Jake Philbeck for a 1-0 Corinth-Holders lead.

Smith pulled Harrison and catcher Zach Keeter aside before they reached the dugout for a quick conversation about giving Hodge and Jones pitches to hit on 0-2 counts.

“They told me the (Corinth-Holders) kids reached out to hit pitches off the plate, but it can’t be close enough for them to even have a chance to do that,” Smith said. “That’s not even an excuse, either, is what I told them. Because if they can do that and drive runs in, why can’t we?”

In the second inning, Harrison struck out the first two hitters, but ran into two-out trouble again. Carson Sakowski lofted a double into the right-field corner that fell just fair, and No. 9 hitter Hunter Sullivan drove in Sakowski by pulling a double into the left-field corner.

Corinth-Holders added three runs in the third. Mason Cooper led off the inning by hitting a tapper in front of the plate but reached on a throwing error by Harrison and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Harrison then walked Hodge, and Jones followed by tapping a ball back to Harrison, who again threw the ball into right field, allowing Cooper to score from second.

Josh Jarman broke the game open with a two-run single through the hole past second baseman Will Hedgepeth, who was playing up the middle to hold Jones near the base, giving the Pirates a 5-0 lead.

“I thought my command was a little bit better than my first start (a 10-3 Gryphons loss to Bunn on March 1), and I was looser this time because it wasn’t my first time out there on the season,” Harrison said. “The breaking ball definitely was a little better. They just hit some good pitches tonight.”

Rocky Mount High scored its only run of the game in the fifth inning. Keeter struck out swinging with two outs on a ball in the dirt, but Sakowski bounced his throw wide of Cooper at first base, allowing Wesley Drake, who had led off the inning with a walk, to score from third with a head-first slide. Only one other Gryphons runner reached third base all night.

“Corinth-Holders had chances to really bust that one open and put a big number on us,” Smith said. “We hung around there for a while. They pitched really good against us and didn’t let us square any balls up or string a few hits together.”

Harrison and Jamar Ellis had the only two hits for Rocky Mount High, both singles.

“A big part of it was that we were swinging at pitches that we shouldn’t have gone for,” Harrison said. “They were working us up in the zone and most of us aren’t high-ball hitters, but we swung anyway.”

By Foster Lander
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Friday, March 11, 2016