RCC Eagles 8-4 after doubleheader win
Mar 2, 2020Rockingham Community College won both games of a doubleheader on Friday against Schoolcraft College, a team that traveled from Michigan for the afternoon games.
The Eagles now stand at 8-4, and have yet to face any conference teams.
At 1:30 p.m., the RCC Eagles clinched the lead in the fifth inning for a 6-3 victory over the Schoolcraft Ocelots.
“The first couple of innings, it took us awhile to get started at the plate,” said Garrett Hladilek, sophomore shortstop and Rockingham County High School graduate.
But once they got with the program, they scored runs in rapid succession.
“Gabe (Duncan) got on and walked, then I laid a bunt down. Gabe scored and I got to third base,” Hladilek said. “Then (Zach) Bennett hit a double in the gap and scored me, and then Jarred (Simpson) came up and scored him.”
Bennet Nooe had two RBIs and Duncan had one. Jonathan Todd hit a double, and Duncan had a sacrifice fly.
With 27 at-bats, the Eagles had six runs, from Duncan, Nooe, Hladilek (two), Cameron Lowke, and Jackson Brant.
RCC’s eight hits came from Hladilek, Simpson, Lowke, Todd, JR Jensen, Dylan Schultheiss, and Nooe (two).
On the mound, Drew Colvin pitched to 14 batters in four innings, with three hits and five strikeouts. Bennett faced five batters in one inning, Nick Womack faced six in .2 inning, and Dawson Salter faced seven in 1.1 innings. Bennett and Salter each pitched two strikeouts.
Despite victories in both games, Hladilek and teammate, freshman right-hand pitcher Dylan Kramer, a Jefferson Forest (Va.) High School graduate, agreed they were close games.
“In the last inning, (Schoolcraft) made a lot of errors, and moved their runners around,” Kramer said.
“The second game was pretty much a pitch performance,” Hladilek said of the 3-0 victory. “Kramer started and went the first five and didn’t give up any runs.”
RCC scored in the second and fifth innings of the seven-inning game.
Batting highlights included two hits from Hladilek, one RBI each from Xavier Stewart and Dylan Mauldin, and doubles from Stewart and Nooe.
RCC had 26 at-bats, and three runs, from Hladilek, Simpson, and Jensen. Two hits came from Hladilek, and one each from Simpson, Mauldin, Jensen, Stewart, Nooe, and Lowke, for a total of eight.
Kramer pitched five innings, facing 18 batters. He nabbed 13 first-pitch strikes and eight strikeouts. Trenton Wood and Todd each faced five batters in one inning each.
Overall in District III, RCC pitchers hold the top four spots for strikeouts: Colvin with 24, Todd and Kramer with 15 each, and Bennett with 14. Colvin also has the top earned run average by far, with 1.76. The second- and third-rankings are 4.75 and 6.23.
Next on the schedule for RCC is a recently added doubleheader at Averett University in Danville, Va., at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4.
Following that, RCC will host doubleheaders against Southern Virginia at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 6, and Prolific Post Grad at noon on Saturday, March 7.
Hladilek said the Herkimer doubleheader in Wentworth at noon on Saturday, March 14, followed by a single nine-inning game at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, are must-watch games.
