The Craig County baseball team took on two formidable opponents to open the season last week and dropped both games.
The Rockets opened the season with a road trip to Moneta to take on Staunton River, a traditionally strong Class 2 Blue Ridge District team. The host Eagles took a 21-3 win in five innings.
“Pitching struggled to throw strikes and fielding errors were our downfall,” said first year coach Jaimes Mick.
Staunton River scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning. Craig answered with two in the top of the second but the Eagles put 11 on the board in their half to put it away.
Craig sent four different pitchers to the mound, Jaycob Wolfe, Luke Potter, Isaiah Wente and Marcus Donithan. The Rockets committed seven errors behind them and eight of the Eagles runs were unearned.
Offensively, Potter, Donithan, Wente, Isaac Lucas and Hunter Sowers all had hits for the Rockets. Donithan had a double and two runs batted in and Potter had a double and a stolen base.
On Thursday the Rockets were at Bland and dropped a 15-5 decision to the Bears. This one was knotted up at 4-4 into the bottom of the third when Bland exploded for seven runs. Again, defense hurt the Rockets as they were charged with five errors. Wolfe and Sowers pitched and allowed just one earned run while combining to strike out eight Bears in five innings.
Sowers had two hits and Potter stole three bases and scored twice. Wolfe had a double.
“Two tough matchups for us at this time,” said Mick. “We are extremely inexperienced and have a lot more work to do, but if we can clean up a few things we can certainly complete. It was a good wake up call.”
The Rockets return to action Monday, March 31, for their home opener in a rematch with Staunton River. A day later, on April 1, they’ll host Eastern Montgomery in their Pioneer District opener.
