Rebels Blow Late Lead, Fall to Eagles for Third Time

With the Howell Rebels four outs away from a trip to the Monmouth County Tournament semifinals, it appeared as if pitcher Dan Watson would carry them to victory.

Watson was just one out away from completing the sixth inning when Middletown South rallied to string together two hits following a walk to put up two runs and slide past the Rebels, 3-2.

Watson went 5.2 innings, giving up just five hits and two earned runs while striking out six batters and walking four more before getting tagged with the loss to the home team Eagles.

Despite the loss, Watson was stellar, getting out of jams in several innings, and keeping his Howell team in the contest throughout the game.

Watson allowed an un-earned run in the bottom of the second when courtesy runner, Erik Obsteins, scored on a passed ball with one out. The ace escaped damage by striking out Mike Gannon with the bases loaded.

Watson remained tough in the fourth inning, as well, when Brian Wajda reached third base with one out. The future Wagner College pitcher finished off the Eagles by striking out back-to-back batters.

The fifth inning was much of the same, as Watson Left a Middletown South runner stranded on third base with a strikeout and a ground out to third basemen Brody High.

"He bears down, but I think he just ran out of gas a little at the end there," Howell head coach Eric Johnson said of Watson, "He was over 100 pitches so we had to get him out of there at that point. Unfortunatley, it didn't go the way we wanted."

Howell tied the game in the top of the third inning when Joe Raccuglia belted a solo home run with one out over the wall in left field.

The Rebels added to their lead in the top of the fifth inning. After High and Raccuglia opened up the inning with singles, Will Riepe, who has been impressive all year, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second and third base respectively.

Brian Blood then drove in High with a long fly ball to right-center, which was snagged on a diving catch.

Mark Doyle pitched the rest of the sixth inning, allowing a charged run to Watson. Riepe and High teamed up to throw out an attemped run at the plate, with a tag by catcher Kyle Conrad.

Conrad was strong behind the plate all game, with the exception of the passed ball that resulted in the Eagles first run.

"We did a good job and we fought but this has been the story of our season," Johnson said, "We can play with good teams but we can't get over that last hump."

The coach said having such a young roster he hoped that the loss in the county tournament could serve as a learning experience for the future.