Rock Hill baseball starts fast, doesn’t stop

The Rock Hill baseball team just could not quite get over the hurdle that was Northwestern last season in four close losses.

The Region 3-4A and Upper State titles came down to the two rivals and both went to the Trojans, who came into this season with a 39-game winning streak in the region.

But it was the Bearcats used five first-inning runs and a three-hitter from starter Will Reid to get a 9-2 victory Saturday night at Rock Hill. Reid struck out 11 and allowed two runs in six innings. Wes Bostic was the leader at the plate with three RBIs.

“I can’t say enough about how proud I am,” Rock Hill coach Dell Corley said. “Especially after last year losing four ballgames. Will Reid pitched a great game. And we’ve finally started swinging the bats. I feel good about where we’re at right now.”

Reid struck out two of the first three batters he faced to start the game and picked off pinch-runner Luke Gibbons at first after Brandan Ashley walked.

Northwestern starting pitcher Eric Taylor struggled. All seven batters he faced reached base safely before he was removed with Rock Hill leading 5-0. The Bearcats recorded three singles and four walks in the first inning. Isaac Rodgers, who reached base safely three times, had the big hit with a two-run base hit up the middle with the bases loaded to make it 3-0.

“It’s always good to get out to an early lead,” Reid said. “Especially against them.”

The Trojans got two back in the second on Cameron Smith’s two-run single to right field to cut it to 5-2.

Walks came back to haunt Northwestern reliever Jon Gilbreath in the Rock Hill third. He walked Rodgers and Conner Edkins, and Bostic’s two-out base knock to left made it 6-2.

Reid struck out the side in the Trojans fourth.

He helped himself in the home half of the inning with a line drive single to right-center that scored Zach Carter for a 7-2 edge. Reid was 3-for-3 with a walk for the game.

He struck out three more in the fifth around a one-out walk to record six straight outs by strikeout.

The Bearcats got some help from two Northwestern errors in the fifth. Brandon Banks’ grounder to third got under Will Hagood’s glove to start the inning. Edkins, who reached in all four at-bats, followed with a single to left that Bradley Kirkman booted to let Banks go to third. Bostic again drove home a run with a single to left to make the Rock Hill advantage 8-2.

Banks had an RBI-double to the warning track in left in the sixth that plated Rodgers for the 9-2 final margin.

Caleb Hamilton retired the Trojans in order in the seventh to close it out.

The game never had a chance to turn as the Bearcats grabbed it with five runs in their very first at-bat. It was anti-climactic after three of the four rivalry games being decided by one run last season.

Northwestern answered Rock Hill’s first inning with two in the second and threatened to come back like they have so many times against the Bearcats. However, after the two scored Reid sat down three of the next four batters, two by strikeout. He got the Trojans’ leader Dupree Hart to ground out to second base with runners at the corners to get out of the inning.

Second baseman Bostic had a huge night at the plate from the number eight spot in the order. He had an RBI in each of his first three at-bats, including back-to-back run-scoring base hits to left in the third and fifth innings.

Both the Bearcats and Trojans will be in action over spring break as the Wheels Invitational begins on Wednesday.

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Rock Hill baseball starts fast, doesn’t stop."