Woodson helps Gators outlast Bearcats, 4-2|[03/25/07]
Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 25, 2007
Bowen Woodson spent the winter months moonlighting as a goalie for Vicksburg High’s soccer team. On Saturday, he transferred all of his knowledge from the pitch to the baseball diamond.
Woodson, Vicksburg’s third baseman, made a pair of lunging snags on line drives – including one that denied a potential game-tying hit – as the Gators beat Ruston, La., 4-2 at Bazinsky Field.
“It was almost all reaction. Just the soccer part of me,” Woodson said. “I don’t remember anything. I just looked up and saw the ball in the glove.”
Woodson also singled and scored a run on a delayed steal during a decisive rally in the fourth inning. It was one of four runs the Gators (11-7) manufactured ‘in the game. They only had five hits, but used three wild pitches, an error and two stolen bases to move runners along the basepaths.
Eric Coleman brought in a run with a fielder’s choice, and Kurt Cooksey had an RBI groundout. Judd Mims’ RBI double in the fourth was the Gators’ only run-scoring hit.
“We’re not concerned about batting average. We get runners at third with less than two outs, we’re going to roll a ball to the right side and get the run in,” Vicksburg coach Jamie Creel said.
Ruston (10-12) tied the game at 2-2 on a two-run single by Brett Hinton in the top of the fourth, but the Gators reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning.
Vernon Wolfe led off with a walk and scored on Mims’ double for a 3-2 lead. Woodson, who had singled, went to third on the double. Tanner Woodson followed Mims’ hit with a strikeout, but Ruston catcher Graham Fuller dropped the ball. As Fuller threw to first for the out, Bowen Woodson broke for home and scored easily to make it 4-2.
After that, Bowen Woodson showed what he could do with his glove.
Ruston’s first two batters of the fifth inning reached on singles and were bunted into scoring position. Fuller came up and ripped a screaming liner toward the gap between third and short. Woodson turned left, stretched out and snagged the ball to deny a likely game-tying hit. Cooksey then coaxed a groundout from John Letendre to end the inning.
“I almost couldn’t get it out of my mouth to tell my guy to get back,” Ruston coach Toby White said. “That one play was the difference in the ballgame.”
In the sixth, Woodson stopped another budding rally in its tracks when he caught a liner off the bat of Corey Jones. Woodson went to his right for this one, reaching across his body to make the catch and keep a likely one-out double from reaching the outfield. Ruston only had one more batter reach base, and never threatened again.
“That’s probably the two most spectacular plays I’ve seen this year,” Vicksburg coach Jamie Creel said. “That’s the product of being a goalie.”
Louisville 17, Warren Central 6
Ridgeland 10, Warren Central 4
Warren Central led 4-1 heading into the top of the sixth inning when the wheels fell off against Louisville.
Louisville scored 12 runs in the sixth and added four more in the seventh for the 11-run victory.
Keaton Sanders led WC with three hits, while Heath Carroll, Kyle Calhoun and Cody Barfield each had two hits. Sean Elliott hit a triple in the loss.
After the loss to Louisville, the Vikings boarded a bus for Ridgeland and came out with a second loss on the day.
Elliott and Adam Lee each had two hits for the Vikings, who trailed 5-0 after two innings.
Ridgeland had 11 hits.
The Vikings are scheduled to host Division 3-5A leading Madison Central on Tuesday night at 7.