Appomattox remains on top of Dogwood baseball standings

By Ted Allen

Published: April 25, 2008

APPOMATTOX — Guarding a half-game lead in the Dogwood District, Appomattox’s baseball team put together its best all-around game of the season in Friday night’s 6-2 victory over second-place William Campbell.
“That’s a good win against a good team,” Raiders coach Joe Caruso said. “We played great defense, we turned two double plays, we ran the bases aggressively, communicated well and took care of the little details — all the kinds of things you like to see as a coach.”
Those little things — like leadoff hitter Zach Jobe grounding to first with one out in the sixth to score Ben Harris from third for the final run — made Caruso happier than seeing his clean-up hitter Timmy Dudley go deep.
“We played, I don’t know if it’s small ball, but as (Chicago White Sox manager) Ozzie Guillen says, that’s smart ball,” Caruso said. “We took what was there and played aggressively.”
But big hits is what most spectators pay to see and Dudley didn’t disappoint, showing that he is not only a phenomenal pitcher, but a prodigious hitter.
Starting at first base rather than on the mound, Dudley provided all of the offensive support pitcher Josh Bradshaw would need, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
He launched a first-inning solo shot down the right-field line before twice driving in L.G. Gough, a pinch-runner for Bradshaw — with a third-inning double that short-hopped the fence and a fifth-inning single.
In the first, Caruso gave Dudley the green light to swing on a 3-0 count and the left-hander got all of it, driving Darrell Eusley’s offering deep to right field over Austin Fisher.
“That made him relax a little bit and he had some really good at-bats later in the game,” Caruso said.
Dudley greeted Generals reliever Tyler Holbrooks with a rocket to left center in the third.
“I just sat back, saw the ball and drove it whichever way it was,” Dudley said. “It was a 1-2 count and I waited on the curve ball and went the other way with it.”
Bradshaw wasn’t as masterful as Dudley often is on the mound, but he got the job done, backed by some excellent fielding. He went the distance, scattering six hits and striking out seven.
Bradshaw started the Raiders’ second double play in the sixth by making a leaping stab of a comebacker chopped by Generals clean-up hitter Trip Green and turning and throwing to shortstop Kenny Scott for the force out at second in one fluid motion before Scott relayed the throw to Dudley at first.
“The way Josh threw the ball … he’s a competitor,” Caruso said. “He said going in he needed the defense to back him up, and they did.”
“He went out and threw strikes and gave us what we needed,” Dudley added.
Bradshaw drove in two runs himself, scoring Jobe both times on a fielder’s choice in the first and an opposite-field single to right in the third.
Bradshaw and Dudley accounted for five of Appomattox’s six hits and five of its six RBIs.
“That’s why they’re batting 3 and 4,” Caruso said.
But he said Jobe set the tone for the game in the bottom of the first by reaching on the first of William Campbell’s three errors and stealing two bases before scoring the first run.
“I tell our base runners, ‘Don’t only look at me, look at the pitcher. If you’ve got a good lead, go ahead and take it,’” Caruso said.
“He got such a good jump … ” Generals catcher Green didn’t even make a throw to third.