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Roberson gets revenge
By Andrew Pearson
Times-News Staff Writer
April 28, 2001
The crowd has spoken: No matter what conferences T.C. Roberson and West Henderson find themselves in next season, their rivalry will continue to be the most heated and best-attended in the area. Another traditional standby in the matchup is strong pitching, and in the final intraleague game of the rivalry nearly a thousand fans bathed in the sun as junior right-hander Kory Radford all but assured the Rams of the 2001 Mountain Athletic Conference title. As for offense, the Rams, who've been swinging torrid bats of late, did the rest in a lopsided 15-3 win over the Falcons. Roberson, the state's top-ranked 3-A team, cycled out four different Falcons' pitchers on its way to amassing 15 hits and just as many runs. The victory guarantees the defending 3-A state champions (19-1, 7-1 in the MAC) of a playoff spot, while sometime between now and May 8 the 10th-ranked Falcons (17-4, 6-2 in the MAC) need a win against either North Buncombe or East Henderson to be assured of the postseason."We came in with a purpose and knew we'd have to play well to beat a team like West," said Radford. "We've been swinging the bats so well that it's a relief when you pitch, just knowing you'll get that kind of support."Kenny Smith and cleanup batter Chris Price slapped home runs in the second to give Radford (7-0) a 4-3 lead and enough breathing room to hold West to just three hits in the final five innings."We're capable of playing much better and you have to give credit to Roberson. They came in here today...and I don't know if they can play much better than that," Falcons coach Jim Hyatt said. "We're young and so we're going to be prone to games like today, but now we have to focus on making the playoffs and then go from there."Since losing to the Falcons on April 3, the Rams have blitzed through every team in the loss's wake, including fourth-ranked Franklin, Western Highlands Conference leader Owen and now the Falcons by a combined total of 33 runs."We've been hitting the ball well lately and today West had chances to get out of some innings, but our guys made them pay," Rams coach Tommy Smith said."The first game there were a lot of emotions, but today we told them just go out there and do what you have to." The Rams struck first when Price knocked in Medlock from second then scored three in the third on Price and Kenny Smith's homers. The Falcons had answered with two runs of their own in the second, but over the last three frames Roberson scored 11 more times, with four coming in their final at bat.Price was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and Smith was 3-for-3 with four runs scored. For West, Curtis Frisbee was 3-for-3 with an RBI.Radford allowed three runs, two of which were earned and lasted all seven innings. Falcons starter Justin Weeks (10-2) took the loss for West.
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