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Splish-splashing good time for Fike

9-1 win vaults Fike into tie for first place


After waiting, then playing, waiting again and resuming play over a period of some five hours, the Fike High varsity baseball team climbed back into a tie for first place in the 3-A Big East Conference with a 9-1 triumph against visiting Rocky Mount in Fleming Stadium on Friday evening.

The Golden Demons scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning en route to joining Northern Nash in a deadlock for the league lead at 5-3. Rocky Mount and Nash Central are now tied for third at 4-4.

Fike scored four of its runs before play was suspended by rain for some 35 minutes. The playing conditions during Fike’s at-bat left veteran Gryphons head coach Pat Smith miffed.

Also, Fike head coach Buck Edmundson remained perturbed about the circumstances surrounding a game moved up to 4:30 p.m. Friday. When rain fell Friday morning, Fleming Stadium was secured as the venue and game times were set for 6 and 7 p.m. before the first pitch at approximately 8.

“We were going to try to get it in if at all possible,” Edmundson said. “There were some heated moments. Rocky Mount has a great coach but I have to do what is best for my team as well. I am glad we got it in, but it took a lot of effort.”

The evening left absolutely no joy in Mudville from a Rocky Mount perspective.

“It’s an embarrassment to high school baseball the way they made us play in that first inning,” Smith insisted. “We had waited three hours, but we couldn’t wait another 10 minutes for it to stop raining. This is as pitiful as I’ve ever seen. You might call it sour grapes, but I’m just not happy with it.”

Edmundson explained Smith refused to play the game either Thursday night or at noon Saturday. The Rocky Mount coach’s preference was to attempt to play Monday. Edmundson said he responded that he didn’t think playing three games the final week was a good idea for either team.

Smith said Edmundson began contacting him as early as Tuesday about changing the game time because of impending inclement weather.

“I refused to play Thursday because my team needed rest,” Smith contended. “My pitchers needed rest. And we have a prom Saturday. I told him that, if he wanted to play Friday, we would be there — and we were. And I don’t think he liked it when I told him that, if we played Monday, we’re going to pitch David Harrison.”

Harrison is Rocky Mount’s ace junior left-hander who has committed to North Carolina State University and has dominated Big East hitters this season.

Back to the game.

With a seven-run cushion, ace Fike senior right-hander Brandon Winstead stopped Rocky Mount on three hits in posting his sixth win against two losses. Winstead issued three walks and struck out seven.

Senior outfielder Hunter Lee, Winstead and catcher Jackson Terry each singled in the seven-run first, and second baseman Jonathan Bass slammed a two-run double. The spree included three walks, a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a passed ball.

Starting Rocky Mount pitcher Forrest Bell failed to last the first inning.

The Demons added a run in the third, when freshman first baseman Zack Pittman was hit by a pitch from right-handed Rocky Mount reliever Will Hedgepeth and moved around on an error, another hit batsman and sophomore third baseman Jaelynn Melton’s single.

Pittman also scored in the fifth. He led off with a single and, with one out, Winstead singled. Melton drove in Pittman with a sacrifice fly.

In the meantime, Winstead’s command was not the sharpest but he breezed through the first three innings.

The Gryphons plated their run in the fourth. Junior first baseman David Harrison’s single, a fielder’s choice and two walks loaded the bases. Fike right fielder Lee responded with a diving catch of Hedgepeth’s liner, but Rocky Mount’s Jake Philbeck tagged at third base and scored on the play.

Winstead then worked out of a fifth inning jam and, after the first two Gryphons’ hitters reached base in the fifth, retired the last nine batters.

Edmundson explained his team sought to redeem itself for a losing performance earlier in the week and also understood the issues he had experienced during the day.

“I knew we were pretty fired up,” Fike’s second-year head coach commented. “And we knew how important the game was. We came out with a lot more fire and intensity.”

Fiery intensity was prevalent on both sides this rainy evening.

hammer@wilsontimes.com | 265-7819

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