PANAMA CITY — Todd Harless and Jon Hudson could host a late-night infomercial entitled “Get Ahead, Stay Ahead.”
The respective coaches at Mosley and Rutherford saw their teams build early leads and cruise to victories in the District 1-5A baseball tournament semifinals at William T. Weeks Field on Tuesday. Their teams will meet in the district title game at 7 p.m. Thursday at the same location.
Powered by Nick Nelson at the plate and on the mound, Rutherford opened with a 10-4 victory over Choctawhatchee. Mosley followed with a similarly dominant 9-2 win over Bay.
Rutherford 10, Choctaw 4
Nelson started the day for Rutherford with an RBI double in the first inning, the first of three doubles for the Rams senior. He clubbed a solo home run in the third inning to finish his afternoon 4 for 4 with three runs scored and two runs batted in. He also pitched the first four innings and struck out four to earn the win.
“He’s our best player, and he played like it today,” Hudson said. “Nick has been consistent since he’s been here. And as a pitcher he stepped up today, too.”
Added Nelson: “I thought I did pretty good. I’ve been seeing the ball pretty well.”
Rutherford seized a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Dallas Davis followed Nelson’s run-scoring double with an RBI single. The Rams tacked on another run in the second when T.Y. Reese drove in A.J. Thornton with an RBI single with two outs.
Nelson led off the third with a towering drive to left field that cleared the wall to boost the Rams’ lead to 4-0. Thornton walked with the bases loaded to drive in another run, and Jacquez Koonce’s single to left knocked in two more as Rutherford put the game out of reach with a 7-1 advantage.
Tyler Broxson and Jeremy Leno each contributed with an RBI single in the fourth, and Rutherford (20-4) scored its final run in the fifth with another RBI single by Davis for a 10-1 lead.
“We’ve learned it’s easier to stay ahead than to get behind and have to get ahead,” Nelson said.
Choctaw’s Robbie Gilpatrick drove in his team’s first run in the third to pull the Indians within 3-1. Facing a large deficit late, Choctaw scored three runs in the sixth with a run scored on a wild pitch and the other two on RBI singles by Zach Jowers and Chandler Emmick, respectively.
Hudson said Broxson, who pitched two innings Tuesday, likely will take the mound against Mosley on Thursday. He said it was important to send his ace, Nelson, out to the hill against Choctaw, which split two games against Rutherford during the regular season.
“Today we decided to go with Nick because Choctaw is a good team,” Hudson said. “If we don’t win this game, we’re done.”
Davis, Broxson and Leno each had two hits to complement Nelson, and the Rams finished with 14 hits in all against three Choctaw pitchers.
Gilpatrick and Emmick each had two hits for the Indians, who tallied eight hits and left 14 runners stranded on base.
Choctawhatchee 001 003 0 — 4 8 1
Rutherford 214 210 x — 10 14 0
Barker (L), Bludworth (3), Hale (5) and Gilmore; Nelson (W), Broxson (5), Davis (7) and Leno, Hill (6).
Mosley 9, Bay 2
Bay opened the game by leaving the bases loaded at the end of the top of the first inning, and Mosley generated seven runs in the bottom half of the inning to pull away quickly.
Clay Causey had an RBI single, and Brendan Fox added an RBI double, but the big hit was Sean Maddox’s drive to left field that cleared the wall to score two runs for a 5-0 lead. Brady Bell capped the inning with a two-run single with two outs to chase Bay starter Tristen Ragen.
That was plenty of support for Mosley hurler Andrew Deramo, who blanked the Tornado offense before exiting after four innings with a commanding 9-0 lead.
“To be honest, Deramo wasn’t throwing seven innings even if it was a one-run game,” said Harless, who has guided the Dolphins to the regional tournament in six of his seven years at the school. “We have faith in all of our pitchers. We have a real good team ERA, and we don’t walk a lot of guys.”
Mosley’s Jimmy Nolan hit a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the third, and Maddox scored on a throwing error as the Dolphins extended their lead to nine.
Bay (12-15) scored its first run in the sixth with Jacob Brown’s single to left-center, and the Tornadoes scored their final run in the seventh when J.T. Duncan scored from third on a wild pitch.
Bell, Causey, Fox and Maddox finished with two hits apiece for Mosley, which rapped out nine hits.
“I just told them they did a great job jumping on Bay quick in a high-stakes game,” Harless said. “This game, you can lose and you’re done. We were 23-2 (coming in) and we could have left 23-3 and that’s that.”
Rashard Lucas and Kristian Brogdon each had two hits for the Tornadoes.
Bay 000 001 1 — 2 7 4
Mosley 702 000 x — 9 9 1
Ragen (L), Hall (1), Seamon (1) and Kinsey; Deramo (W), Cullen (5) and Bizzle.