Bob Jones forces game three

MADISON-  With their backs against the wall and needing a win to extend the series, Bob Jones baseball coach Jared Smith turned to Caden Rose and it paid off as Rose combined with John Michael Riley to pitch seven innings allowing only one hit as Bob Jones posted a 5-1 win over Oak Mountain to force a deciding game 3 Saturday.

Rose threw four innings then he and Riley, who was playing catcher, switched positions and Riley was equally impressive. Riley struck out the side in the fifth and the seventh innings.

Oak Mountain starter Wesley Dennis matched Rose with scoreless frames in the first three innings. In the top fourth he walked two batters and Dylan Ray hit a line shot over the right field fence for a three-run home run, the big blow of the game.

“We keep Rose’s pitch count down because he plays shortstop also. That is actually his first start of the year,” Smith said. “We didn’t want to go lefty lefty back to back  today because they saw Cam Hill in game one and hit him pretty well. Rose came through for us, he is a great competitor. Dylan got the big hit. Our young guys did a good job of handling the pressure. That was the first playoff games for just about everyone on this team.

We got our pitching worked out with East, Bickleman, and Andrew Wright for Saturday and East has started a lot of games for us. We got to win or go home.”

Oak Mountain won the first game 12-3. They broke the game open with four in the sixth, then sent ten batters to the plate in the seventh and scored five. Landon Cato hit a three run home run for Oak Mountain. Samford signee Gene Hurst pitched six innings for Oak Mountain and got the win in game one.

Bob Jones was charged with five errors in the game including two in the seventh inning.

Bob Jones now faces one of the top pitchers in the state, lefthander Jackson Kimbrell who has committed to Ole Miss.