NEA rallies past Rams

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 14, 2005

AHOSKIE – The Eagles rally from two runs down to beat rival Ridgecroft School 7-6 here Tuesday afternoon.

The Northeast baseball squad improved to 4-2 inside the Tarheel Independent Conference while dropping the Rams to 7-3 in the league.

Northeast scored two runs in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-run single by Chris Carrothers. Those scores gave the Eagles a 5-4 advantage from which they never looked back.

Still holding to that narrow margin, NEA scored two more in the top of the seventh to extend the advantage. Justin Mize had an infield single and stole second before going to third on a Craig Minton single to rightfield.

Tyler Davis plated Mize with a sacrifice fly before Minton went to second on an error and scored when Eddie Marriner delivered an RBI-single to center, pushing Northeast’s lead to 7-4.

Ridgecroft responded in the bottom of the seventh. Wes Ward hit a two-run homer to left, his fifth of the season, but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles held on for the win.

Northeast led early, scoring two runs in the top of the first frame on a two-run single by Davis.

Ridgecroft answered in the home half of the same frame, scoring three runs to take the lead.

Gavin Mizelle had an RBI-single and two runs scored on errors to give the Rams a 3-2 lead.

Ridgecroft extended the advantage in the bottom of the second when Mizelle had another RBI-single to give the Rams a 4-2 edge.

The Eagles got to within one in the top of the third when Minton scored on a wild pitch to cut the advantage to 4-3.

Rich Edwards collected the win for NEA, going the entire seven innings.

Overall, Northeast improved to 5-4 on the year heading into Wednesday’s home game with Lawrence Academy.

The Rams fell to 7-3 overall heading into Thursday’s date with Hobgood Academy at home.