CHILHOWIE, Va. — Standing outside a quiet, somber dugout on Tuesday afternoon, Chilhowie High School third baseman Adam Powers best summed up how the Warriors were feeling.
“It’s hard to have a season like we had and then go so early,” Powers said.
The Hogoheegee District champions saw their season come to an end with a 5-3 setback to Bath County in the first round of the Region C baseball tournament.
Chilhowie (17-6) entered the game having won 13 of 14 and the Warriors carried a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning on Tuesday.
However, things came apart in the top of the sixth inning. Bath County (11-10) pushed across four runs thanks to three walks, two errors, a passed ball and a wild pitch by Chilhowie.
“During this streak we’ve been on, we really haven’t had an inning like that,” Chilhowie coach Jeff Robinson said. “It’s hard to take.”
Bath County, the Pioneer District runner-up, got a strong pitching performance from Eric Gentry. Gentry allowed five hits and struck out five.
“That was a great pitching performance by Eric Gentry,” Bath County coach Derek Cantrell said. “It was hands down his best effort of the year. He pitched well, got some people off balance. That’s a good hitting team over there from what I’ve heard. He did an excellent job.”
Chilhowie scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning and got the game-tying run to the plate with two outs. However, Gentry got Chilhowie leadoff hitter Josh Jackson to pop-up in the infield for the third and final out.
“He buckled down there at the end,” Cantrell said. “That’s hard to do when you get to the top of that lineup.”
Powers had a productive day for Chilhowie, reaching base in all three of his plate appearances. He walked twice and also singled in the seventh inning.
However, Chilhowie’s hopes of reaching the regional semifinals for the second straight year were doused by Bath County.
“It’s extremely tough,” Robinson said. “These boys have worked so hard to get to this point and they had higher aspirations than this. They have nothing to be ashamed of.”
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