Bob Jones goes extra innings to win area title
MADISON- Five years is a long time to go without winning an area title in baseball, especially at Bob Jones. But Thursday night the Patriots ended the long wait with a 4-3 win over James Clemens in 11 innings.
The Jets had their chances to win and extend the area race another day but Bob Jones scratched out a run in the eleventh and Caden Rose pitched 3 plus innings in relief to get the win.
James Clemens tied the game in the seventh to send it to extra innings. Collin Brown scored on a wild pitch, Canon Clark singled, and Laken Lansdell hit a sac fly.
“It was a fun game, intense, like high school baseball should be especially in a rivalry game,” said Bob Jones Coach Jared Smith. “James Clemens played a great game and it could have went either way. We have won some close games this season and we needed a close game like this because you are not going to always win by 8 or 9 runs when you get in the playoffs.”
Smith said the cold windy conditions played a part in keeping the score down as did the pitching on both sides.
“It’s a big field and the wind was blowing in. We hit some balls that would have been out at our park. But we made play after play on defense and Cam went eight innings and threw 89 pitches. Rose has been our closer all year. He has good tempo, works fast, and pounds the zone. He’s a great competitor. When the game gets tight Caden Rose is a winner. We were ready to go to Andrew Wright if it had gone longer,” Smith said.
Rose moved from his shortstop position to the mound with one out in the eighth and worked out of a bases-loaded jam.
Laken Lansdell worked six innings and held Bob Jones to 3 runs, well below their average in area games. He was relieved by Tyler Legere in the seventh. Legere struck out Ryan Crawford to end the eighth. Zach Toth worked 2 innings.
In the eleventh with bases loaded Landon Gray appeared to pitch out of the jam when he got Mitch Daly to hit a pop fly but it dropped in right field with three Jets surrounding it.
James Clemens had their best chance to win with the bases loaded and one out in the tenth. A botched squeeze play resulted in an out at the plate and Rose pitched out of the jam.
“Their pitchers pitched good,” Rose said after the game, “They were pitching us away and we weren’t staying back and hitting it that way. We were trying to hit bombs over the left field fence. We made some adjustments to get enough runs.”
Bob Jones will host Mountain Brook or Oak Mountain next Friday/Saturday for their first home playoff games since 2013.
“I’m really confident going into the playoffs. We lead the state in home runs and our pitching and defense showed tonight. We will have to bring our A game every single night but it will be fun,” Rose added.
Rose struck out Jackson Taylor to end the game.
The teams will finish the series with a doubleheader on Friday at 4:30 at Bob Jones with playoff implications for James Clemens.
