Woodrow holds on to defeat Independence
Mar. 29—Finding ways to win the ugly ones is never a bad thing.
Woodrow Wilson took a two-run lead in the fifth inning, added an insurance run in the sixth and withstood an Independence rally in the seventh for a 5-3 win Wednesday at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
The Flying Eagles got a little help from the Patriots in the seventh.
With one out, James Williams and Brayden Kiblinger drew back-to-back walks off Woodrow reliever Isaiah Patterson, and both moved up on wild pitches.
Zach Smith then hit a ball up the middle that shortstop Connor Mollohan dove for and the ball squirted away. Courtesy runner Scott Kester appeared to have scored, but Smith made contact with Mollohan and was ruled out due to interference, sending Kester back to third.
Patterson then got Orion Mills to ground out to second to end the game.
"We showed some grit. We showed some toughness," first-year Woodrow coach Mike McKinney said.
"It was an ugly game. We worked some pitchers. Everybody got their pitches in for today. Everybody just kept fighting away.
"It was an ugly win, but we'll take it."
Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, the Flying Eagles got things going.
Ari Payne was hit by a pitch to start the inning, advanced on Reid Warden's sacrifice and stole third. One out later, No. 9 hitter Jackson Gambrell lined the first pitch of the at-bat to center to drive in courtesy runner Luke Barnes.
Gambrell stole second and scored on a single by Ty Evans to tie the game at 2-2.
Woodrow (6-3) took the lead for good in the fifth on a two-run single by Maddex Sims.
J.D. Monroe's RBI groundout got the Patriots (2-4) within a run in the sixth, but the Eagles got the run back in the bottom half on Andrew Lovell's sacrifice fly.
Indy lost a big scoring opportunity in the fifth.
Cole Cunningham and Levi Barnett singled to lead it off and Kiblinger walked with one out to load the bases. But Smith lined out to Evans at shortstop, who fired to third to retire Cunningham trying to get back to the bag.
Independence scored single runs in the third and fourth, both unearned.
Clay Basham reached on a two-base error to lead off the third and later scored on a sac fly by Monroe. Smith was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth, took second on a passed ball and then scored on an error after Mills successfully bunted to reach base.
"We're still trying to figure things out," Patriots coach Scott Cuthbert said.
"I thought we battled again. Pitchers battled and we played pretty good defense. We couldn't come up with the timely hit when we needed it and they did."
Payne got the win in relief of Mollohan, who started and went 3.2 innings. Patterson got the save.
Woodrow will host Riverside on Friday. Independence goes to Bluefield on Thursday.
Email: gfauber@register-herald.com; follow on Twitter @gfauber5
