SWG Cowboys overcome early Ragsdale lead to take down Tigers and now face East Forsyth in finals on Monday at SWG

Courtesy of Mike Ellis, Jamestown News:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

Ragsdale 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 – 3 5 2
SW Guilford 0 7 0 0 3 2 x – 12 11 0

Ragsdale and Southwest Guilford squared off in the first semi-final game of the
Piedmont Triad Conference Tournament at the Cowboys’ home field. The Tigers got off
to a good start, scoring the game’s first three runs, but the Cowboys came storming
back. They put up 7 big runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a
commanding 7 – 3 lead and went on to record the win with a 12 – 3 final.

DeSean Anderson scored the game’s first run as he led off the top of the first by
getting hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a fielder’s choice, stole third
base and came home on a Billy Stone two out RBI single to centerfield. Ragsdale
went on to load the bases as SW starter Brock Hudgens struggled with his control
early and issued back to back walks. He escaped further damage by getting a line
drive to center for the final out as the Tigers stranded three.

Ragsdale got two more in the second as Mitch Carstens opened the inning with a base
hit. After a sacrifice bunt moved Carsten’s to second, Anderson connected on a two
run homerun over the centerfield fence to give the Tigers a 3 – 0 lead.

Anderson had gotten the start for the Tigers on the mound and he ran into second
inning trouble. Back to back walks to open the second followed by an Austin Cole
base hit plated the first Cowboy run. After another walk loaded the bases, Andrew
Madden unloaded them with a drive to the right centerfield fence which he legged out
for a triple as three runs scored in front of him. With SW up 4 – 3, Ragsdale went
to the bullpen and brought in Tyler Southcott. An Elliott Slack basehit scored
Madden and Brock Hudgens, who had walked later scored on a Kyle Miller infield
single. With Slack on third and Miller on first, the Cowboys executed the delayed
steal to perfection as Miller broke for second and when he got caught in a run down,
Slack beat the throw to the plate for SW’s 7th run of the inning and Miller made it
safely to second.

Hudgens went back to the mound for the third with the 7 – 3 lead and settled in. He
had struggled in the first two innings with his control having given up the three
runs. But with the lead, he was a changed pitcher. He had thrown 48 pitches in the
first two innings, now in command he only needed 6 pitches to retire the Tigers in
order in the third and retired Ragsdale in order in the fourth and fifth with a
total of 18 more pitches. Ragsdale would only get two more base hits for the game
and were unable to push across any more runs. Hudgens pitched the complete game,
allowing only 5 hits and the 3 runs while striking out 8.

Southwest would tack on three more in the fifth as Davis Inman, Matt Dale and Austin
Cole singled and scored, with Cal Sutphin, Madden and Hudgens getting the RBI’s in
the inning. Two more runs in the sixth would make the final 12 – 3 as the Cowboys
move on to face East Forsyth on Monday in the Tournament final. East Forsyth
defeated Glenn in the second semi-final game of the night by a 12 – 2 score.

One thought on “SWG Cowboys overcome early Ragsdale lead to take down Tigers and now face East Forsyth in finals on Monday at SWG

  1. Brock looked very good last night. Best I have seen his fastball. After the 1st 2 innings he cruised and SWG hit it solid and every ground ball found a hole. You put it in play enough and that happens. Congrats on the win. I think everyone at Ragsdale is glad to see Brock doing so well. Charlotte is getting a gem.

Comments are closed.