After a close couple of early innings, the O’Bannon Greenwaves found a mid-game rhythm to defeat the Riverside Bulldogs 12-3 in high school baseball on Thursday.
Somewhere between the top of the third inning and the bottom of the fourth, O’Bannon found the magic on offense and defense.
“I huddled the guys together between innings and told them that we needed to play Greenwaves baseball and stop taking this team lightly,” said O’Bannon head coach Nathan Kennedy. “They responded very well when I challenged them to play better.”
After Riverside pulled to within a 3-2 margin with a little small ball, their hitters started making solid contact but only for loud outs. The home team responded with four runs in their half of the third inning after senior center fielder Perry Gibson legged out a single to get things started.
“We’ve played enough baseball at this point that we shouldn’t be making mistakes like that,” said Bulldogs head coach Boo Ellis. “Right now, we’re not playing good baseball and we’re not hitting the ball at all.”
Greenwaves starting pitcher Keshawn Kingdom capped the inning with a solid two- RBI single up the middle. Kingdom had little trouble locating his pitches in the early innings but went out in the Bulldogs half of the fourth and overpowered all three batters he faced by striking out the side.
O’Bannon broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth by sending seven batters to the plate and scoring five runs. Kingdom added another RBI single and his battery mate catcher Keshone Daniels added a two RBI single in the frame. The Greenwaves also legged out two infield hits for RBI singles each time in the bottom of the fifth to lead 11-2 heading into the top of the sixth inning. Riverside mounted a mild threat by loading the bases with two outs in the sixth inning. But after yielding a walk to force in a run, Kingdom fielded a slow roller and throw onto first base to record the innings final out.
