Robbinsville – What a difference 24 days can make.
When Andrews and Robbinsville played earlier this season on May 14, Black Knights senior Rossi Wachacha threw a no-hitter as Robbinsville romped to a 16-0 win at Andrews. On June 4 at Robbinsville, it was the Wildcats who came out on top, besting the Black Knights 11-6.
At 6-6, the Wildcats remain in the playoff hunt heading into the final week of the regular season, with games remaining against Rosman and Swain County.
“I can’t think of anybody that didn’t contribute in that game,” Andrews head coach Bryan Graves said. “You look at (all) nine of the players, and they all did something that helped.”
It wasn’t just one thing that changed the result from earlier this season. Andrews has been around a .500 team all year, continuing to stay the course and try to put all the pieces of a game together. It wasn’t always pretty, but the Wildcats did exactly what they needed to do to get a road win.
That started with taking advantage of Robbinsville’s mistakes. The Black Knights made seven errors, starting with an error in the first inning that allowed Isaac Weaver to score after a leadoff double.
The Black Knights (5-7) tied the game in the bottom of the first, but Tanner Huskins put the Wildcats back in front with an RBI single. Wachacha tied the game for Robbinsville with a solo blast over the center-field fence in the bottom of the inning, but the next two innings would be all Andrews.
In the third inning, Bateman and AJ Weaver would come around to score on a throwing error, and an RBI double from first baseman Ethan Neal scored Jimmy Miller. In the fourth, Bateman and Miller both had RBI singles, while Donovan Bateman had an RBI double before scoring himself after stealing third and sprinting the final 90 feet home on an errant throw by the catcher.
The 9-2 lead was Andrews’ largest of the season.
With the Wildcats bats doing the job and taking advantage of Robbinsville’s mistakes, Isaac Weaver put together a solid four innings on the mound, scattering five hits while striking out six hits. AJ Weaver pitched the final three innings, where things got hairy but Andrews didn’t unravel.
Graves has talked about defense being the key to his team’s success all season, and that was true again in this game. When the defense slipped a little in the fifth and sixth innings, Robbinsville capitalized, scoring two runs in each inning. But the Wildcats continued to stay positive on the field, encouraging their teammates to make the next play and leaving their frustrations behind. Weaver got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth as well as stranded runners on second and third in the sixth.
“We’re playing more together right now,” Spencer Bateman said. “Everybody picking each other up and not getting down on each other so bad. It’s a lot harder to get down on yourself when you keep telling each other to keep on moving.”
Neal’s leadoff home run in the top of the seventh was the exclamation point on the win, and the Wildcats first long-ball of the season.
“We came with a vengeance,” Neal said. “No-hitter, 16-0, beating them on their home turf, it’s something else.”