Gallery by Heather Belcher
Danny Dickenson did not pitch last year. The Woodrow Wilson senior wasn’t slated to pitch this season.
Thursday night he took the bump for the second time against Princeton.
After defeating the Tigers earlier in the season on the road, Dickenson stymied Princeton again in a 7-4 win at Linda K. Epling Stadium.
“I haven’t looked at the book, but I would say only one or two of those runs were earned tonight,” Woodrow Wilson head coach J.P. Stevens said. “This year, Danny didn’t come in as a pitcher, but in the first game against Princeton, Logan (Williams) couldn’t find the strike zone, so Danny had to pitch that game. He did the same thing to them the first time, so why not the second time.”
The two old rivals wasted no time setting off some fireworks.
Snoop Higginbothan roped a triple out of the lead-off spot to jump-start the Tigers and scored on ground out from Ethan Nelson.
A two-out walk to Jordan Bailey came back to haunt Dickenson when Lucas Monaghan doubled him home.
Trailing 2-0, Woodrow Wilson wasted no time, answering quickly in the bottom half of the first inning.
A walk and a wild pitch put Williams at second base to start things for the Flying Eagles.
Dickenson helped his own cause with a single to score Williams, but when the ball got past the right fielder, Dickenson circled the bases to tie the game at 2-2.
“Our big problem this whole year is that we have given up at least one run in the first inning,” Stevens said. “If we could break that streak we would be just fine. The resilience and the fight in them was good tonight though.”
After a quiet second inning, two plays in the field changed the complexion of the game in the third inning.
A sliding catch by Blake Stratton in centerfield on a fly ball between him and the infield kept Princeton from gaining any momentum.
The Tigers were not so fortunate in the bottom half of the frame when Williams lifted what looked to be a routine fly ball to center to lead things off.
A costly drop allowed Williams to reach third base and cracked the door open for the Flying Eagles.
Williams then scored on a passed ball to give Woodrow a 3-2 lead.
Chase Tolliver singled and scored the second run of the inning when Dickenson hit a shot over the right fielder’s head for a triple.
Micah Clay followed a Reid Warden walk with an RBI-single and Ty Evans capped the four-run inning with a two-out single, giving Woodrow a 6-2 lead.
“We had two bad innings and a couple of physical errors which are going to happen,” Princeton head coach Austin Southcott said. “You have to give it to Woodrow though. They had some timely hitting and they took advantage.”
After giving up two runs in the first inning, Dickenson was masterful on the hill until he ran into some unfortunate trouble in the sixth.
After a throwing error and a walk gave Princeton a pair of runners, Dickenson fanned the next batter.
A bang-bang play at first base went the Tigers’ way to load the bases putting Dickenson in a stiff jam with just one out.
The senior right-hander worked the outside corner before busting the hitter inside, recording his second strikeout of the inning.
Dickenson then looked to be out of the jam when he coaxed a routine ground ball for the third out of the inning.
The throw however was wide of the bag allowing two runs to score.
In a situation where he could have fallen apart, Dickenson stood strong to get the third out the inning, stopping the Princeton threat.
“Mental toughness. Danny is one of the seniors and he is a leader,” Stevens said.
At a point in the game where a key hit could have turned the game in their favor, Princeton went begging.
“Something that we have been struggling with is taking advantage of situations with timely hitting when we have guys on base. You have to put the ball in play. It is high school baseball and teams are going to make mistakes.”
Woodrow gave its pitcher some insurance in the bottom of the sixth when Chase Tolliver doubled home a run for the 7-4 lead.
“That was a good win. Princeton is getting better and better. Their bats are starting to come alive,” Stevens said. “It is good to get that sweep out of the way early because at the end of the year they will be a tough ball club.”
Southcott agreed and was pleased with the progress of his team.
“We are improving every day. It is not about how you play at the beginning of the year, it is about developing your guys and making sure you are improving on a daily basis,” Southcott said. “We have played them twice now early on and I am going to go ahead and say it’s not going to be the same ball team when we see them later in the year.”
“You get frustrated and you want to win now, but you have to look at the big picture,” Southcott went on to say. “Everybody gets in the sectional tournament and everybody has a chance when you get there. At the end of the day, I thought we played really good.”
