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WAYNESVILLE − The NCHSAA 3A playoffs started out terrible for Tuscola baseball and pitcher Amos Rich against Stuart W. Cramer on Tuesday.
One batter reached safely after an error from shortstop Kolt Nelson. After a sacrifice bunt, third baseman Jed West committed an error, allowing another runner to reach. Cleanup hitter Dylan Jennings drove in a run with a single up the middle.
Tuscola coach Zack Shepherd said he told the team to relax, have fun and play baseball when it returned to the dugout after the first inning.
The words helped Rich and the rest of the Mountaineers settle down. They didn't commit another error or surrender another run the rest of the game.
"Stuart (W.) Cramer did a great job in the first inning getting people on," Shepherd said. "They got them a run. But our kids stayed the course. In the third inning, we had that sense of urgency and went crooked inning, crooked inning, crooked inning and got the one to end it."
Rich struck out 10 batters while only giving up two hits, two walks and one run. The sophomore's effort propelled No. 10 Tuscola to an 11-1 win in six innings at home against No. 23 Stuart W. Cramer (16-9).
Tuscola awaits the winner of No. 7 Rockingham County (19-6) and No. 26 Pisgah (11-8) on Friday in the second round.
"Obviously, emotions are high," Rich said. "It's a playoff game. Very important. You just got to calm down, just play even keel and continue to go at it."
Rich said he did a better job attacking the zone during the rest of his performance.
Shepherd said he did a great job of mixing up his pitches.
"He threw his curveball early, threw his slider early," Shepherd said. "Then later on when he was really in the groove, he just started throwing the fastball more."
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Tuscola will have to turn to someone else Friday since Rich won't be available after throwing 96 pitches.
"The pitching staff is tight, and they've all battled all year. We've won with pitching," Shepherd said. "Like an 11-spot hadn't been the norm. We've got every other arm other than Amos available for Friday."
Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @zacharyahuber. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times and Times-News.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: How Tuscola beat Stuart W. Cramer in NCHSAA baseball playoffs opener
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