Game Report on Ragsdale-Glenn PTC Tournament Baseball from Wednesday night

Courtesy of Mike Ellis from the Jamestown News and Womcak Newspapers at www.womacknewspapers.com….

(11 – 14) 11 R 9 H 2 E #6 Glenn
(12 – 11) 7 R 7 H 2 E #3 Ragsdale

WP – Mason Striplin: 4.1 IP, 5 H’s, 7 R’s, 6 ER’s, 5 K’s, 7 W’s
LP – Connor Burrows (1-1): 0.2 IP, 3 H’s, 4 R’s, 4 ER’s, 0 K’s, 1 W

Key Players: Ragsdale – Bryson Harrald: 1 for 4, Grand Slam HR; Duncan Sparks: 2 for 4, run; Colin Lipke: 2 for 4, 2B, 1 RBI. Glenn – Zac Myers: 3 for 4, 3 runs; Kevin Thompson: 1 for 3, 3B, 3 RBI’s; Shane Billings: 2 for 4, 2B, RBI, run.

On a cool wet night for baseball, the # 6 seed Glenn Bobcats came to # 3 seed Ragsdale and pulled off an 11 – 7 win in the first round of the Piedmont Triad Conference tournament on Wednesday night.

Ragsdale starter Tim Ambrose ran in to trouble in the first inning as Mason Stiplin led of with a double and eventually scored the game’s first run on a wild pitch. An error and a Shane Billings double drove in the second run before Ambrose struck out two in a row to get out of the inning.

Ragsdale struck back off Glenn starter Mason Striplin in the bottom of the inning as a Niko Orfanedes lead off single and two walks around a fielder’s choice loaded the bases. Senior Bryson Harrald then took a 1 – 1 pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam home run that gave the Tigers a 4 – 2 lead.

Glenn got the lead back with a single run in the second and two more in the third for a 5 – 4 advantage before Ragsdale struck for three in the bottom of third. A Colin Lipke double drove in one run and another run scored on a wild throw to the plate. With Lipke on third, an Avery Hodges ground out got him home to give the Tigers a 7 – 5 lead.

That lead was short lived as Glenn answered with five runs in the fourth, the big blow coming off the bat of Kevin Thompson. With the bases loaded, Thompson hit a shot to the wall in dead center for a bases clearing triple. The Bobcats scored two more runs in the inning and took a 10 – 7 lead. They added one more in the fifth for the 11 – 7 final.

Striplin went 4 1/3 innings, allowing all seven Ragsdale runs, but managed to strand three runners in the fourth as he recorded the win. Cy Fogleman relieved him in the fifth and went the final 2 2/3 only allowing two hits and no runs. Ragsdale starter Tim Ambrose could not get out of the third but left with a 7 – 5 lead. Ragsdale used four pitchers over the final 4 1/3 with Connor Burrows taking the loss.

Glenn will now move on to the semi­­-finals of the Conference Tournament and will meet HP Central on Friday night at East Forsyth. Ragsdale will await the outcome of the Tournament to find out their opponent in the State Tournament which will start Friday, May 10th.