Saturday March 23^rd featured a beautiful day of baseball at Wilson’s historic Fleming Stadium, home of the Coastal Plains League Wilson Tobs.  The Tobs hosted their annual High School Classic, featuring 4 games and 8 teams from the Wilson and Greenville areas. 

PBR was on hand with reports on each game.  Below is a full game recap of each game, as well as stats and player notes for PBR+ members.  A full scout blog is coming this week, highlighting players that performed at a high level on the day, with a scouting report and video.

 

Game 1: Cardinal Gibbons Edges JH Rose

JH Rose    3         Cardinal Gibbons   4

In game one, Cardinal Gibbons ran out their ace, right-hander Carter Holjes (2019, UNCW commit).  Holjes kept the Rose offense in check for most of the game, attacking hitters with a fastball-curveball combination.  Holjes worked 6.2 innings before giving way to Adam Bloebaum for the save.

Gibbons got on the board early vs. Rose righty Wesley Shade as the Rampant defense was not sharp with the 10:30am start.  Dane Stewart (OF, 2019) doubled to left-center with a runner on, putting the Crusaders on the board.  Later in the inning Noah Marshall (2019) singled up the middle, scoring Stewart for the early 2-0 lead.

Again, defensive miscues would elongate an inning for the Crusaders, allowing them to score two more runs in the 2^nd.  After two quick outs Richie Van Tassel (SS, 2020) doubled to center.  A ball misplayed in left field, scored a single, off the bat of Bloebaum would score Van Tassel and Stewart, who had walked.  The early 4-0 lead would need to stand up as Shade and the relief arm of Matthew Whacker (RHP, 2020) rolled zeroes for the next 4 innings.

In the 7^th, down 4-1, the Rampants would make a charge.  With one out, Holjes hit Shade and Wade Jarmin (SS, 2021) would single.  After a strikeout, Holjes was lifted, having thrown 101 pitches.  The lefty Bloebaum went to work against lefty Grant Jarmin (2B, 2019) who singled to left loading the bases.  Ryker Galaska doubled down the left field line, scoring two and closing the game to 4-3 with 2 outs and runners on 2^nd and 3^rd.  A walk to Noah Stocks (3B, 2019) would load the bases, where Shane Rademacher (1B, 2019) worked a 2-0 count to a 2-1 count before hitting a solid ground ball at the second baseman who flipped to short for the force to end the game.

 

Game 2: Bean Paces Fike Past Orange

Orange    0                         Fike    5

In an outing where Chad Bean was on a pitch count, he made every pitch he threw count, working 5 innings and throwing 54 pitches.  Bean punched 5, walked 1 and only allowed 2 hits, keeping the Orange hitters off balance with heavy movement out of his fastball and a sweeping slider.

Offensively, Fike found ways to create pressure on Orange’s pitchers and defense, while only getting 4 hits.  The Demons did draw 5 walks and created some pressure on the bases with aggression and the short game.  Garrett Browder led the Demon hitters with 2 hits, one a double.  Browder scored one run and knocked another one in. 

In total, Fike would push 5 runs across.  In the first, a lead off walk was followed by a triple from Zach Pittman to centerfield, where Cooper Porter almost made a great running grab.  Pittman was then scored on a sacrifice fly from Browder, giving Fike an early 2-0 lead.

In the 4^th, with Bean cruising, Fike put the game away with another 2 runs.  Singles from Bean and Colton Moats put runners on 2^nd and 3rd with no outs as Bean advanced to 3^rd on the hit and Moats moved to 2^nd on a throw to 3B.  A safety squeeze bunt attempt by Bryan Bunn was thrown away,  scoring Bean and Moats.  Fike would add one more insurance run in the 5^th.

 

Game 3: DH Conley Erupts In Big Win Over West Johnston

West Johnston    2           DH Conley    16

DH Conley’s offense erupted for 16 runs and 11 hits in a 5 inning win over West Johnston.  The explosion included a 10 run second inning.  Jake Lysaght and Robbie O’Neal paced the Vikings offense with three hits and three RBIs apiece. 

On the mound, the Vikings started 2022 Matthew Matthijs work worked into the 3^rd inning, striking out four.  Davis Pugh and Cody Thompson threw in relief worked the final 2.2 innings, punching 6 without surrendering a hit.