By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
A few minutes after Monday’s CCC marathon finally ended, Providence Grove coach Jerry Kidd trotted toward the Salisbury dugout to let second baseman John Knox know he’d made one of the best plays Kidd had ever seen on a baseball field.
Knox’s diving catch, fully extended and lunging toward the second-base bag, came with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh. It saved two runs and temporarily saved the day.
“That kid made an absolutely great play,” Kidd said. “He kept us all out here a very long time.”
Longer than anyone, including Knox and Kidd, had ever dreamed. Providence Grove finally broke through for the winning run on a controversial wild pitch in the 13th inning and beat the Hornets 3-2 on a brutally, cold windy day at Robertson Stadium.
Forrest Buchanan deserved to be a hero. He had four of Salisbury’s 10 hits and pitched five shutout innings in relief.
Russell Michalec, Salisbury’s leadoff man, came close to winning it twice.
Michalec crushed a towering drive in the bottom of the seventh with Knox on first base. It would have been a dramatic, game-winning homer on a calm day, but a cross-wind gusting toward right field slapped the ball down like a shot-blocking power forward, and Providence Grove center fielder Knox Gunter, who never stopped quit chasing, caught up with it.
In the 11th, Salisbury had the winning run at second when Michalec’s two-out bullet, probably the hardest hit ball all day, left a vapor trail as it streaked right to Gunter.
“Our strength has been our defense, and we’ve had a couple of no-error games,” said Kidd, who doesn’t coach a typical first-year team. “And with the conditions, it was a very conducive day for good pitching and a low-scoring game.”Providence Grove got two runs in the first against Salisbury left-hander Philip Tonseth, but stronger defensive support would have prevented both.
Salisbury (1-9, 1-5) came right back to tie in the bottom of the first. Two walks and Buchanan’s single loaded the bases with one out. Frankie Cardelle jumped on the first pitch for an RBI single to right. Then the Hornets tied it 2-2 on a passed ball.
It stayed that way, stayed that way, and stayed that way some more, as fans shivered.
“On paper, this was not one we were supposed to win, but we’ve got to steal a few of those,” Salisbury coach Scott Maddox said. “We pitched it well and had opportunity after opportunity to score runs. But we didn’t play smart enough. Lots of little things beat us.”Tonseth kept Providence Grove hitters off-stride and lasted inning after inning. He began the seventh with a walk and was relieved by Buchanan. A bunt single and hit batsman loaded the bases with none out, but Buchanan got two straight batters to pop up in foul territory to third baseman Kyle Wolfe.
Richard Shuping was the next batter. He lined what appeared to be a certain hit up the middle, but that’s when Knox made his great play.
“Just heart and determination, I guess,” Knox said. “We just really needed this game, wanted to win it so badly. Everyone was doing everything they could.”
Buchanan and Jordan Fuller had one-out singles in the eighth, but the Hornets still couldn’t break through.
After Buchanan’s fifth straight scoreless inning on the mound, Tonseth and Knox reached base in the 11th, but Michalec’s wicked lineout to center ended the inning.
Buchanan’s fourth single, an error and a walk filled the bases with one out in the 12th, but Tonseth popped up and Zack Mills, Providence Grove’s fourth pitcher, got Jeremy Forbis to ground out.
The Patriots (6-3, 4-2) finally scored in the 13th when Michalec walked Philip Hardin, the No. 9 batter, to begin the inning. Pat Dawes sacrificed the runner to second and a pass ball moved him to third. Hardin scored when Michalec threw what had to be scored as a wild pitch, even though it likely struck batter Jordan Smith’s foot.
Had it been ruled a hit batsman, the ball would have been dead, and Hardin would’ve had to return to third base.
“It his his foot ó you could tell by the way the ball ricocheted straight out of there,” Maddox said. “But that’s a tough call. It’s tough for the umpires to see that.”
Ryne Maddox walked to start the bottom of the 13th, but Smith relieved Mills and nailed down the last three outs.
While it probably put together its best-pitched game of the season against a good team that beat Ledford (Ledford pounded Salisbury 21-4), the Hornets couldn’t overcome failures to execute on bunts and baserunning mistakes.
“It hurts, but we are playing better,” Coach Maddox said.