Robbinsville – Entering Tuesday’s game against Murphy, the Black Knights had lofty expectations.
And why not? Robbinsville (4-5, 4-5) was coming off a redeeming, 7-1 victory over Hiwassee Dam (1-7, 1-7) on Friday and had won four of its last five.
But the Bulldogs (6-1, 6-1) resoundingly dampened the Knights’ hopes, as starter Briggs Cornwell pitched a 5-inning no-hitter and Robbinsville was left with a 13-1 loss.
“I still feel like we’re getting better every game,” said Black Knights coach Brent Icenhower. “I was really happy to get that redemption (against Hiwassee Dam), but Murphy’s the second-best team in the conference and they showed it.”
The Knights scored their only run in the bottom of the first. Jeb Shuler reached on an error to lead things off, while Cole Patterson would follow by drawing a walk. Later with two outs, Ethan Orr and Kayden Brock drew back-to-back free passes; the latter scoring Shuler.
From there, Murphy spread 13 runs across the shortened affair, including four in the second, six in the fourth – which saw 12 Bulldogs come to the plate – and three more in the fifth.
Following the early success, Robbinsville only had two more baserunners across the remaining four innings.
“It’s hard to win when you have six errors and eight strikeouts,” Icenhower astutely observed. “We’re trying to get the players into a new routine; they’re out of school, so they’ve got to make an adjustment to this.”
The Knights will finish a 4-game homestand Friday against Swain County (3-4, 3-4), before traveling to Rosman (4-4, 4-4) on Tuesday, June 1.
With Robbinsville looking to break out of the pack, both outings are crucial.
“Our next two games are big,” Icenhower noted. “From here on out, we can control our own destiny.”
Redemption
Hiwassee Dam handed Robbinsville its first loss of the year.
The Knights made sure Friday that history would not repeat itself.
Robbinsville overcame a one-out, solo homer in the top of the first from Eagles center fielder Clay Davis to score seven unanswered runs across the remainder of the game, rinsing the bad taste out of its mouth with a 7-1 win.
The Black Knights did their damage with A-B-C baseball. Patterson drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second and soon scored on a fielding error. Courtesy runner Bryc Garrison would later steal second, advance to third on another error and sprint home on a Brock groundout.
Patterson led off the home-half of the fourth with a single and later crossed the dish on a two-out hit from Brock. Jeb Shuler would then beat out an infield single to begin the bottom of the fifth and soon stole second, while Ethan Orr drew a walk. Hiwassee Dam switched from starter Seth Hooper to Michael Simms at this point, but a groundout by Greylon Orr brought Shuler home from second. Patterson was later plunked by a pitch with two outs, but soon followed behind Ethan Orr in a two-run scoring effort on a wide throw to first base.
Robbinsville manufactured one final run in the sixth, when Ethan Beavers drew a one-out walk and later came home on an Ethan Orr flyout.
Knights starter Rossi Wachacha – who picked up his third win of the season – combined with Brock to strike out 12 Eagles batters.