Cave Spring hosted the annual rec day baseball festivities Tuesday afternoon at Knights Field where the younger players take the field with the varsity nine before the game and pick up pointers watching their heroes once things get going.
One thing should have been a lesson learned Tuesday. Comebacks.
Spotting Blacksburg an early 5-0 lead, Cave Spring erupted for nine runs in the bottom of the fourth, and held on down the stretch to pull out the 9-8 River Ridge District win.
Blacksburg had things going their way in the first three innings, getting plenty of help from the Knights.
The Bruins got one run in the first on two walks, a error and single, then added a pair in the second after an error was followed by consecutive run-scoring singles by Ryan Oosterhuis and Jared Madigan . Two more came across in the Blacksburg third, set up by a base on balls and error.
Meantime, Cave Spring looked to be snakebit, failing to score after getting runners on second and third with none out in the second. In the Knights’ third, a Jalen Buster single and Trey Hodson double to left center once again had runners in scoring position before a fly out to deep center ended the threat.
After Cave Spring reliever Austin Emery retired the Bruins in order in the fourth, the Knights opened the floodgates.
Grant Wilson got things started with a one-out single, and after a wild pitch, scored on Wyatt Hage’s single. Hage went to second on the throw to the plate and moved to third on a wild pitch, ending the day for Blacksburg starter Madigan.
Emery greeted Bruin reliever Austin Nickel with a RBI single, Caleb Wetzel walked, and the pair executed a double steal. Logan Altizer walked to load the bases and Buster hit a sacrifice fly to center for the third Knight run. Hodson walked to juice the bases again, and Caleb Pritchard hit a two-run single to left, knotting things at 5.
AJ Cacciatore walked to reload the bases, and Wilson kept the carousel going with a 2-run blooper to center. Hage walked and Emery capped off the 9-run frame with another two-run single.
Blacksburg got one run back in the fifth, and picked up two more in the sixth on a pair of singles and three Cave Spring errors to cut it to 9-8, but Knight reliever Conner Lewis got the Bruins in order in the seventh on two strikeouts and a grounder to pick up the save and secure the win for Emery.
Bill Turner