Prep Baseball: West Rowan 10, Salisbury 0

By David Shaw

dshaw@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA — D.J. Webb and his West Rowan teammates plugged a few holes in their leaky season Wednesday night.

The up-and-down Falcons were up again, this time stopping visiting Salisbury 10-0 in a game halted with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

"A lot of things were going our way tonight," Webb said after pitching a two-hit shutout for West (3-5). "In the end it all fell into place."

Webb, a senior right-hander who dropped his first two decisions this season, was a control freak who simply allowed Salisbury to put balls in play. He blended an adequate fastball with a late-breaking curve and a tantalizing changeup to hold the Hornets in check.

"We hit a lot of balls on the button," coach Scott Maddox said after Salisbury dipped to 2-3. "I was happy with how we hit the ball. But (Webb) threw strikes and his fielders made plays. You put that together and good things are going to happen."

Webb walked only one batter and retired 12 of the last 13 he faced, including the final eight.

"He hit his spots and kept the ball down," West freshman Hunter Teeter said after completing his varsity game as a catcher. "His curveball worked really well, better than it has in any other game."

Webb worked out of trouble in each of the first two innings, when Salisbury stranded four baserunners. Kyle Wolfe reached on an error and Jeremy Forbis sprayed a soft single into left-center field before Webb escaped in the first. An inning later Nolan Meyerhoeffer doubled to left-field fence and Brian Bauk coaxed a two-out walk, but Webb retired John Knox on an inning-ending popup.

"When D.J. is on, that's what happens," WR coach David Wright explained. "It was good to see him come out and just throw strikes. We got out of him what we wanted."

West reached losing pitcher Clint Veal — a freshman right-hander — for a couple of first-inning runs. Taylor Garczynski singled and scored the game's first run on Jon Crucitti's sacrifice fly. Moments later Tyler King crossed when Hayden Untz punched an RBI grounder into left.

The Falcons added six runs in the last of the third, when Veal walked three batters, uncorked his third wild pitch and was victimized by a couple of Salisbury errors. West sent 12 hitters to the plate and the first nine reached base.

"(Veal) didn't pitch that bad," said SHS senior catcher Jordan Fuller. "He threw strikes. He went after people. But once they scored a few runs, we just kind of broke down."

Maddox said a turning point came early in the inning — before any of the runs scored — when West DH Chandler Jones laid down a sacrifice bunt and was safe at first on a dropped throw. But he was called out when he inadvertently turned toward second base and was tagged after the play. The call was then reversed after Wright had a discussion with both umpires.

"First the ump called him out, then he switched it to safe," Maddox lamented. "He said in his judgement the runner was forced (toward second base). I said, 'Why didn't you just call that to begin with?' That's the play where the game turned."

Six runs later, the Hornets were reeling. "In high school baseball you have to let it go and move on to the next play," said Fuller. "But we got down on ourselves and couldn't get back up."

Webb had no such problem. He retired the side in order in the third, fifth and sixth innings and earned his first win when Teeter scored on King's game-ending sac fly.

"I felt relaxed, sort of like nothing could go wrong," Webb said. "Everyone did. We just hope this is the game that sparks us and gets us going."