photo: John Coutlakis lRoberson's Cameron Maybin (5) is congratulated by teammates after his first home run against West Henderson.

MILLS RIVER - West Henderson coach Jim Hyatt elected not to use either one of his top two pitchers against Roberson - and his team paid the price.

The Roberson Rams turned 14 hits and 10 walks into a 20-3 victory over the West Henderson Falcons, recording a rout that delighted the visiting squad and embarrassed the home team.

"This has to add to our confidence," Roberson coach Tom Smith said.

No one in the estimated crowd of 750 fans honestly could have expected such a lopsided baseball game between two of Western North Carolina's perennial powers.

"Total humiliation," Hyatt said. "I hope they enjoyed it. What goes around, comes around. I think this game did more bad than good. It hurt our reputation with them and across the state."

Hyatt will start senior Michael Facchinei or junior Spencer Linn today against Brevard. With a win, West Henderson can clinch second place in the Western Highlands 2- A Conference. The other pitcher would then be available to start Thursday against North Henderson in a game in which West Henderson could earn a share of first place.

But that meant Hyatt's only options against Mountain Athletic 3-A Conference champion Roberson were senior Luke Lovelace and junior Vince Owens, who are the third and fourth pitchers on the Falcons' staff.

Lovelace (six runs on three hits and three walks in two innings) and Owens (13 runs on 10 hits and six walks in one inning) both struggled.

"You can't beat them if you can't throw your best pitchers," Hyatt said of the Rams, who are ranked No. 1 in the state in Impact Baseball's polls and No. 25 in the nation in Baseball America's polls. "But we didn't have anybody else."

The Rams scored only one run in the first and second innings but exploded for 19 runs in the third and fourth innings.

"It was contagious," said Smith, whose team sent 26 batters to the plate in the third and fourth innings. "Everybody hit."

The Rams hit four home runs - two by junior Cameron Maybin (2-for-2 with two walks, three RBIs and four runs) one by junior Wesley Williams (2-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs) and one by senior Tyler Radford (2-for-3, one walk, two runs and four RBIs).

"This was a big game for us," Maybin said. "Hopefully, we can keep it up during the playoffs."

Seniors Justin Talbot (2-for-4 with one run and 3 RBIs) and Blair Wells (2-for-4 with two RBIs) also got into the act, as did freshman Justin Jackson (2-for-3 with one walk and three runs) and sophomore pitcher Mitch Hefner (1-for-1 with one RBI, three walks and three runs).

Senior Theo Herila (0-for-2) was hitless but collected two walks and scored two runs.

Hefner earned the win, allowing three runs - two unearned - on five hits and four errors in five innings. He finished with two strikeouts and one walk.

Contact Messer at 232-5837 or [email protected].