By Ryan Bisesi
rbisesi@salisburypost.com
Better late than never for Salisbury’s Brian Bauk and John Knox.
The first two hitters in the Hornets’ lineup were a combined 0-for-7 coming into their at-bats in the seventh inning down one run to Forbush. All of that was ancient history after Bauk rifled a triple into the left field gap to tie the game with Salisbury down to its last out. Knox then sent the game-winning hit into left to give Salisbury a 8-7 win against previously unbeaten Forbush on Tuesday at Robertson Stadium.
“Brian killed that ball and John stepped up and showed that he’s the kind of leader I thought he was,” Salisbury coach Scott Maddox said.
Bauk, a sophomore who started the game on the mound, tossed four innings, giving up one hit and stood to get the win after Salisbury led 4-1 after four. The Falcons scored three in the sixth and three in the seventh to regain the lead.
With the Hornets down to their last out, Bauk went to 0-2 after two pitches, but fouled off three straight and eventually found himself at 2-2.
“I popped up like three or four times today,” Bauk said. “I felt like I owed my team and coaches a good base hit.”
After Bauk’s contribution, Knox, who hit into a double play and struck out earlier, was challenged by Maddox over in the third base coaching box to ‘be a senior leader.’
Knox fulfilled his coach’s wish by hitting the second pitch from Ben Temple past a diving Caleb Brawley at shortstop and into center field to score Bauk.
“This win was big because now we know when we’re down, we can’t let up,” Knox said.
Grayson Fulp hit a two-run homer off Kyle Wolfe in the sixth to cut the Falcons’ deficit to one.
The Hornets carried a 5-4 lead into the seventh with Philip Tonseth coming on for the save. A pair of singles started the inning, jeopardizing the Hornets’ edge. Dustin Moore and Brice Merritt scored on a wild throw by Tonseth to third base on Devin Doss’s bunt attempt as Forbush (5-1) went ahead. Doss later scored on a passed ball for insurance.
Salisbury got the break it needed to start the seventh when Spencer Carmichael’s swing-and-miss of strike three ending up being a passed ball and he made it to first.
“Instead of a strikeout, they’ve got a man on with nobody out,” Forbush coach Taylor Rutledge said. “You’ve got to be able to squeeze that for an out.”
Nolan Meyerhoeffer drove in three runs for the Hornets and put them on the board in the first with a double to left that plated Knox. Two plate appearances later, he cleared the bases with a bloop double to score two runs and another scored on an error.
Salisbury’s Scott Van der Poel scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to make it 5-1 in the Hornets favor. Right fielder Ian Swaim had three singles, a walk and a stolen base in his first start. Swaim singled Carmichael over in the seventh and scored the tying run.
Forbush pitcher Ben Temple, also a sophomore, tossed a complete game.
“It’s good to be 2-1, but we’re not getting the sense of urgency that we need to get to be the team we need to be,” Maddox said. “It’s good to beat Forbush, they’re a good team, but that’s not our objective. Our objective is to win conference and you can’t win the conference with the mistakes we’re making.”
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NOTES: Other games scheduled for Tuesday were rained out. … Carson’s home game with West Rowan has been rescheduled for Thursday…. East Rowan started its game with Statesville but it will be completed as a doubleheader when the two teams meet in Statesville later in the season. East was leading on Tuesday 12-0 going into the second inning … Today’s highlight games is Carson going to North Rowan and West Rowan traveling to Davie. … The East-Salisbury game set for today, is now on Friday at 4:30. … A full slate is scheduled for Friday with South, North and East playing at home.