Cougar baseball team climbing region ladder
The York Comprehensive High School baseball team chalked up two wins in Region 3-AAAA play last week.
Cougar pitcher Ryan Gilbert got the win in the 7-1 defeat of Fort Mill at York’s baseball complex.
Gilbert pitched a complete game, keeping the Rock Hill batters off balance.
“The key was getting ahead on the count,” Gilbert said. “I was able to locate my fastball and kept the hitters off balance with my off speed pitches.”
Gilbert thanked his teammates for their support.
“We did a good job hitting the ball tonight,” he said. “They scored the one run and Will (Prince) did a great job with the big swing. Hunter (Horne) did a good job.”
First-year head coach Eddie Tisdale spoke in glowing terms of Gilbert’s mound performance.
“Ryan’s our bulldog. He’s our guy,” said Tisdale. “When he’s on the mound, he gives us a chance to win. We play good defense for him.”
Tisdale is impressed with the manner in which the Cougar right-hander mixes his pitches.
“He throws a lot of strikes and changes speed well,” Tisdale said. “He’s just got that mentality, where he goes out there expecting success. And when he expects success, often time, he gets it.”
Will Prince’s base-clearing double sealed the win in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“That’s good for Will,” Tisdale said. “He’s struggled a little bit this season and has worked on some things offensively. It’s great to see that kind of stuff pay off for him.”
He added: “It’s very satisfying to me as a coach to see a kid put in the hard work and then get results from it.”
Tisdale believes team chemistry has been a contributing factor to the win.
“We’ve got a tight-knit bunch of kids,” he said. “They like to play together. They like to play for each other.”
Added the YCHS coach: “They like to rally behind each other, and that makes all the difference in the world. We know our players have each other’s back. We’re playing for a purpose bigger than an individual.”
Tisdale has known or some time the challenges to be met in Region 3-AAAA competition.
“We know it’s a tough region,” he said. “Fort Mill is a great ball club and they have an absolutely phenomenal pitcher.
“We were able to get his pitch count up so we could get him out of the game, which helped us. Once you get past the number one pitcher and into the bull pen, you have a chance to be successful offensively.”
Tisdale noted that patience at the plate is paying off for the Cougars.
“We were able to capitalize on some good pitches,” said the York coach. “We saw some balls up in the zone that we were able to hit hard.”
Mindful of the strength of the region, Tisdale knows wins are hard to come by.
“Any win you get in the region is great, almost priceless,” he said. “It seems like everybody’s beating up on each other. It seems that on any given night, any team can win. When you win in the region, it has a good feel to it.”
The Cougars also defeated Rock Hill 8-6, with John Moorefield picking up the win.
Prince, Luc Green and Patch Edwards each had two hits for the Cougars. Aaron Harper and Gilbert each doubled and drove in a run.
The Cougars take on Northwestern April 7, with junior varsity game to begin at 6 p.m.
This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Cougar baseball team climbing region ladder."