RMA baseball wins in Isaiah Thomas' return from injury
By PATRICK MASON
Sports Writer
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
It’s been nearly two years since Isaiah Thomas had played baseball for Rocky Mount Academy after an injury wiped out his junior season.
On Wednesday, the senior got a heavy dose of baseball in the Eagles’ season-opening 17-10 win over Arendell Parrott Academy in a game last lasted three hours.
“For the first time getting out here, it was pretty challenging, and getting on the mound just trying to throw strikes,” Thomas said. “But coming in with the team we have right now, I have enough confidence to work through it. Coach told me before I went out there to just have confidence and let the team play behind you.”
Thomas, who will play baseball at UNC Pembroke next year, started the game on the mound for RMA (1-0), and the senior made it through a pair of innings. He walked three batters in the second, and a pair of wild pitches allowed two runs to score in the inning.
Coach Cameron Ramsey had Thomas on a 35-pitch limit, as the goal of the outing was simply to throw and get the feel back. At the plate, with the Eagles scoring 17 runs, Thomas got plenty of opportunities to face living pitching again.
He lead off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run.
“Coming back to the plate, just tried to do a job, get on base and do things like that,” he said. “It felt great to get that first (home run) out of here for the first time coming back.”
The rest of the offense took an aggressive approach to the plate and scored runs in every inning but the first. With three players signed to play in college on its roster — Thomas, North Carolina recruit Will Stewart and Methodist University recruit Woodall Rose — the Eagles expect to have a strong team.
That was evident early as APA scored all 10 of their runs in a three-inning stretch, but the Eagles didn’t go away.
“Now that we have a little bit older team we can fight our way out of situations,” Ramsey said. “There’s not any quit in these guys and that’s awesome. We jumped right back and scored, and to see them come right back and respond was huge.”
Stewart played third base and pitched the final two innings, and Rose manned first. Junior catcher Colin Legaj played the entire game behind the plate, a likely setup as Stewart will pitch more for RMA.
“He did a good job back there,” Ramsey said. “He played all over as a sophomore and caught a little bit, but with Will pitching more this year he’s going to catch a lot more. That’s big for us and he felt comfortable.”
Tanner Jernigan, a swimmer who wanted to play baseball his senior year, found his way into the lineup after showing Ramsey that he could hit. He batted in the first two runs for the Eagles with a single to the right.
“We had a lot of good approaches at the plate and you could tell that the guys felt comfortable,” Ramsey said. “And for the first game of the season to do that, it’s incredible. Hitting is all about confidence, and we showed some today.”
By PATRICK MASON
Sports Writer
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
It’s been nearly two years since Isaiah Thomas had played baseball for Rocky Mount Academy after an injury wiped out his junior season.
On Wednesday, the senior got a heavy dose of baseball in the Eagles’ season-opening 17-10 win over Arendell Parrott Academy in a game last lasted three hours.
“For the first time getting out here, it was pretty challenging, and getting on the mound just trying to throw strikes,” Thomas said. “But coming in with the team we have right now, I have enough confidence to work through it. Coach told me before I went out there to just have confidence and let the team play behind you.”
Thomas, who will play baseball at UNC Pembroke next year, started the game on the mound for RMA (1-0), and the senior made it through a pair of innings. He walked three batters in the second, and a pair of wild pitches allowed two runs to score in the inning.
Coach Cameron Ramsey had Thomas on a 35-pitch limit, as the goal of the outing was simply to throw and get the feel back. At the plate, with the Eagles scoring 17 runs, Thomas got plenty of opportunities to face living pitching again.
He lead off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run.
“Coming back to the plate, just tried to do a job, get on base and do things like that,” he said. “It felt great to get that first (home run) out of here for the first time coming back.”
The rest of the offense took an aggressive approach to the plate and scored runs in every inning but the first. With three players signed to play in college on its roster — Thomas, North Carolina recruit Will Stewart and Methodist University recruit Woodall Rose — the Eagles expect to have a strong team.
That was evident early as APA scored all 10 of their runs in a three-inning stretch, but the Eagles didn’t go away.
“Now that we have a little bit older team we can fight our way out of situations,” Ramsey said. “There’s not any quit in these guys and that’s awesome. We jumped right back and scored, and to see them come right back and respond was huge.”
Stewart played third base and pitched the final two innings, and Rose manned first. Junior catcher Colin Legaj played the entire game behind the plate, a likely setup as Stewart will pitch more for RMA.
“He did a good job back there,” Ramsey said. “He played all over as a sophomore and caught a little bit, but with Will pitching more this year he’s going to catch a lot more. That’s big for us and he felt comfortable.”
Tanner Jernigan, a swimmer who wanted to play baseball his senior year, found his way into the lineup after showing Ramsey that he could hit. He batted in the first two runs for the Eagles with a single to the right.
“We had a lot of good approaches at the plate and you could tell that the guys felt comfortable,” Ramsey said. “And for the first game of the season to do that, it’s incredible. Hitting is all about confidence, and we showed some today.”
