MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan’s up-and-coming tune didn’t just fall off the charts Friday night. It crashed.
The hit-making Falcons were silenced by visiting South Point and pink-slipped out of the 3A state baseball playoffs.
“Losing always leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” coach Chris Cauble said after West’s season ended with a 7-0 second-round loss. “But I told them to hold their heads high. They were the only county team still playing tonight.”
It’s just that they didn’t play all that well. West (16-11) may have saved its worst for last, committing three errors and managing only five harmless singles against crafty South Point right-hander Chris Ensley.
“That was one smart pitcher,” said shortstop Jared Barnette. “He kept us off-balance. It’s the best way to pitch, to keep hitters wondering what’s next. And that’s exactly what he did to us.”
Ensley, a senior who’s been wooed by a handful of South Atlantic Conference schools, pitched the Red Raiders (22-7) to their 10th straight victory and into next week’s state quarterfinals. He had command of three pitches — an adequate fastball, a curve that painted the corners and a knee-buckling changeup.
“This was a very typical performance for him,” SP coach Mickey Lineberger said after Ensley (8-2) struck out six, walked one and induced 10 groundball outs. “He throws three pitches for strikes and locates them all very well. Even on a night like tonight, when he didn’t have his real giddy-up on his fastball, he was effective because he knows how to pitch.”
His counterpart, West starter Corey Ruff (0-4), was roughed up in his final mound assignment. The senior right-hander allowed three runs — one of them unearned — and four hits in the first inning, immediately putting the Falcons in a difficult predicament.
“Our goal was to get out of the first inning without giving up any runs,” said Cauble. “That didn’t happen. We had to start chasing them. Our team is best when we get ahead and start manufacturing runs. But right off, they took our game away from us.”
West fell behind 4-0 in the second inning when Ruff sandwiched a hit batsman around groundball singles by Ensley and B.J. Richardson.
“I think he had a problem with his mechanics,” catcher Ben Hampton said after Ruff was tagged for seven hits in three innings. “He didn’t have a lot of time to warm up. Still, he did his job. We just didn’t catch the ball and get the outs.”
“Corey made some good pitches,” added Cauble. “But when he missed, he missed high in the strike zone. Every time he got it up they slapped it for a base hit. That hurt him. Especially with an umpire calling low strikes. Normally we’d love that. Tonight it backfired on us.”
West had its best chance to blemish Ensley’s gem in the bottom of the sixth, when Jay Graham lined a leadoff single to right and Ryan Schenk followed with an infield hit. “That was a great opportunity,” said Hampton. “Somehow, we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Somehow, Ensley escaped unscathed by fanning West’s Nos. 2, 3 and 4 hitters — Matt Morgan, Barnette and Hampton.
“That was just him being smart,” said Barnette. “He got all of us with off-speed stuff. I know everybody’s head was into it because that inning was do-or-die. But his curveball kept us from digging in, and that’s what hurt us the most.”
South Point tacked on three runs in the seventh against Barnette, the last of four West hurlers. “Everybody got real quiet when we came in for the last time,” said first-baseman Shawn Trosper. “That kind of took the wind out of us.”
West went quickly and quietly in the last of the seventh, ending an impressive — and sweet-sounding — postseason run. The final lyric was written by Cauble, who said: “All my kids felt they deserved to be here. We felt like we could play with anybody. They gave the effort. And when all is said and done, I can’t say enough good things about them.”
NOTES: West received two innings of scoreless relief from left-hander Paul Link and one from senior John Brooks. ... Ensley retired 11 of the first 14 batters he faced. He threw a total of 96 pitches and recorded his third shutout.
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