Rockville Defeats E.O. Smith in Extra Innings

Rami Jadallah singled in Patrick Witham in the ninth inning to give the Rockville High School baseball team a 4-3 win over E.O. Smith on Wednesday at Henry Park.

Before Jadallah's walk-off hit, the game was filled with momentum swings, lead changes, clutch hitting and even a balk to score a go-ahead run.

E.O. Smith’s Ryan Ouimette had an RBI single in the top of the seventh to get the game into extra innings.

Both team’s had fought hard to come back from deficits.  Rockville kicked off the scoring in the third inning when Kevin Babcock hit a long bomb that fell just short of going over the wall but still scored Taylor Botteron from second on the play. 

The fifth inning was extremely active for both teams which each team scoring two runs.  E.O. Smith loaded the bases with one out for Justin Kaeser, who then got an RBI single to bring in Ben Kochenburger.  With the next batter up, Rockville pitcher Bryan Leonard made a critical error and forced the umpires to call a balk which gave E.O. Smith’s Chad Vicente a free trot to home plate.  Leonard and the Rams would end up getting out of the inning from there.

The Rams responded rather quickly by getting two runs in the bottom of the fifth.  Babcock once again took the initiative for the Rams and scored Jadallah from second with an RBI single to tie the game.  Babcock then stole second and scored on a single by Chris Watts.

One of the most unique things about the game was that there was a father versus son matchup.  Rockville head coach Art Wheelock is the father of Nick Wheelock who is the E.O. Smith coach.  Both coaches acknowledged how neither team would give up and it was a gutsy performance all around from both teams.

“It was a real griddy performance from both teams,” Nick Wheelock said. “I was really happy with the way we battled back and specifically when we tied it up in the seventh inning.  We capitalized on our chances and that gave us a chance to win.  Unfortunately it just didn’t pan out that way for us.”

“The thing about these kids is that they never quit,” Art Wheelock said. “They hung in there, battled through the momentum swings, and then pulled it out at the end.  We got a lucky bounce there at the end with the ball hitting second base to score the game-winning run.  Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than being good.  It was a very fortunate bounce.''

He added, "I felt bad for my son because I know he wants to beat me really badly.  I told him after the game that I was really impressed with his team and how they never quit and kept coming back.”

Rockville starting pitcher, Bryan Leonard, had a huge game on the mound pitching all nine innings with finishing at 116 pitches.  Leonard only gave up eight hits and had seven strike outs. 

“Bryan had a great game and hopefully he can recover quickly,” said Art Wheelock said. “He is a tough kid and he hung in there.”

The E.O. Smith Panthers (4-10) will next play a home game against Rocky Hill at 3:45 p.m. on Friday.  The Rams (9-6) will next play at Bloomfield also on Friday at 3:45 p.m.