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Roberson earns two at tourney
Times-News Staff Writer April 2, 2002 ASHEVILLE � Right now, the cold aluminum of Kenny Smith�s bat is the last piece of matter a baseball wants to touch. The T.C. Roberson senior and UNC-Wilmington-signee deposited his area-best seventh, eighth and ninth home runs of the season Monday over the wall at A.C. Reynolds High to give the Rams their sixth straight Buncombe County Tournament championship.Roberson, which was the top-ranked team in the Baseball America/North Carolina Coaches poll before a 10-4 loss to Tuscola last week, pasted Erwin 10-0 before rallying past the host Rockets 9-5 in the one-day, round-robin event�s final game.Proud papa and longtime Rams coach Tom Smith witnessed his son launch three missiles into the chilly east Asheville air from his usual spot down the third base line. Kenny Smith�s final dinger was the biggest of them all, a two-run job that put Roberson (11-1) ahead for good after the Rams had trailed Reynolds 4-1. A paltry list of entries resulted in just three of Buncombe�s seven teams participating in this year�s tournament, which was condensed from five days to one for the first time in its history. Asheville, Enka, North Buncombe and Owen all elected not to participate in 2002.�Sure, the kids were a little disappointed because they were looking forward to playing everyone,� Smith said. �We certainly hope our success in this thing isn�t the reason people aren�t coming out, but in any case it�s a shame for everyone involved. But Reynolds-Roberson is a great rivalry and everyone got to witness a heck of a game. I�m proud of the way our guys competed tonight and our bats came alive when they needed to. I think Kenny hit more (homers) tonight then I hit in my entire career.�The Rockets got to Ram starter Kory Radford (4-0) early for four runs, but from the third inning on, the 6-2, 175-pound senior was virtually untouchable. He gave way to reliever Kenny Smith in the seventh after allowing two earned runs, seven hits, six strikeouts and one walk. Proving the only player on this night who could top him was wearing his uniform, Kenny Smith promptly struck out all three batters he faced to send everyone home after nearly three hours of baseball. From the plate, the future Seahawk was 3-for-5 with a two-run dinger, a pair of singles and three runs scored. Center fielder Ryan Radford went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, and sibling Kory Radford helped his own cause by going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Right fielder Chris Price, the 2001 Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year, smacked a two-run double to the wall in the third to help Roberson knot the score at 4-4. From there, Smith cracked a 2-2 offering from Reynolds� starter James Lee into left center and Roberson never looked back. Reynolds� Chris Pierce and Lee both ended the afternoon 2-for-4 from the plate. On the hill, the Rams battered Lee for 11 hits and eight walks, and all but one of their runs was eventually unearned. Earlier in the day, the Rams jumped on MAC-rival Erwin (3-9) for five first-inning runs and slowly accumulated enough output to have the hour-long game called for the 10-run mercy rule in the bottom of the fifth. Young Harris-signee Ryan Stewart (3-1) surrendered a lone hit in the third, while striking out four and walking none. Kenny Smith was 3-for-4 with a double and his first two round-trippers of the day, one finding its home in right and one in left center. Kory Radford was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and senior designated hitter Lee Skaggs finished the contest 3-for-3. Finally, third baseman Bobby Hubbard was 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored. Erwin starter Josh Yarborough gave up all 10 Roberson runs (eight earned), scattering 11 hits and two walks. �(Roberson) has a very good hitting club this year,� said Warrior coach Mark Gosnell. �There�s really not much you can do when you�re as young as we are and a team like that is our opponent. They still have some kids who can just flat out throw the ball like (Stewart) and Kory Radford.� |
