Wehrman picks one out, blasts Knights to win
Boom! Tucker Wehrman (3) and some of his Robinson teammates take to the air to celebrate the senior’s home run (photos by C. Frye)
By Chuck Frye, Staff Writer
TAMPA – In front of a friendly Senior Night crowd on Tuesday, Tucker Wehrman gave himself one shot to play hero.
One shot was all he needed.
Not long after an impressive fifth-inning offensive streak allowed visiting East Bay to crawl into the lead, some shaky defense in the bottom half opened the door for Robinson to rebound. And the 6-foot-2 rightfielder was just the man for the job, depositing a fastball over the left-centerfield fence for a three-run homer and a lead the Knights would not relinquish.
After crossing the plate, Robinson’s R.J. Hill (2) and Russell Sandefer (21) congratulate Tucker Wehrman (3) on his game-winning, three-run Senior night homer.
The 7-4 triumph continues Robinson’s solid season-ending run to districts as it has prevailed in four of its last six games with its regular season finale coming on Thursday against Tampa Bay Tech.
“Actually, I told coach (Alex Barron) that I was going to pull my hands in and go backside,” Wehrman said of the fateful at-bat. “But I looked into the stands and saw my friends there and knew I had to go all-out. I gave myself one pitch, a fastball down the middle, to see what I could do, see if I could do some damage.
“I might as well,” the senior shrugged.
Robinson starting pitcher Ian Ayres (10) struck out five over six innings to earn the victory.
The blast, with courtesy runner R.J. Hill (starting pitcher and leadoff man Ian Ayres was hit by a pitch) and Russell Sandefer (reached on error) aboard, was Wehrman’s team-best third of the season and kick-started a run of five straight runs to lock down the victory.
“These guys know what’s been going on,” Barron explained of his now 9-12 squad. “We’ve struggled, been hit and miss … mostly miss. So, at the end of the year, we’ve played with controlled reckless abandon. What do we have to lose? Every team we played is good and that attitude elevated how we played.”
East Bay starter Tayton Laing yielded three earned runs over 4 1/3 innings of work.
That thought process led the Knights to play efficiently on offense, stranding only four runners, and cleanly on defense, committing just one error.
At the plate, Jeremiah Henderson drilled a second-inning double and was sent home on a Harris Skipper base hit. Ayres, who also singled, added a sixth-inning sacrifice fly to plate pinch runner Nathan Jennewein (pinch hitter Brady Capps reached on an error).
Robinson catcher Lucas Hursey holds his ground, tagging out East Bay’s Kayleb Wright attempting to score in the second inning.
Centerfielder Henderson started the strong D right with the Indians’ first batter by tracking down Andrew Gingrich’s line drive in the right-centerfield gap. Later four-star plays came from third baseman Sam Hyman, who snagged a sixth-inning scorcher and turned it into a double play, and from relief pitcher Skipper as he corralled a hot one-hopper and got a big seventh-inning out.
“In practice, we work a lot on our infield-in defense during batting practice,” Hyman said. “I see a lot of hard-hit balls then and I’m ready for it.”
East Bay’s Shawn Dowe stares down a first-inning fastball. The junior had an RBI single and two walks in the Indians’ regular-season finale.
Conversely, the defense of East Bay (ending the season at 4-16) let it down, committing five errors that led to four runs and muted the effects of a quality fifth frame.
East Bay junior Bobby Hayes smacks his second base hit of the night.
Bobby Hayes (two hits and an RBI on the night), Jefferey Diab, Gingrich, and Shawn Dowe (two walks) opened the inning with consecutive singles and a run while the lone Knights miscue scored a second to give East Bay the lead, temporarily at least.
“We’ve finally started to come together,” Wehrman said. “The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place, everything feels in line. Hopefully we can stay hot, win on Thursday and come into districts strong with a lot of momentum.”
East Bay freshman catcher Jefferey Diab tells the relay man to hold the ball as Robinson pinch runner Nathan Jennewein slides home with the Knights’ seventh and final run.
Robinson 7, East Bay 4
E 010|020|1 – |4|8|4
R 020|032|x – |7|5|1
W – Ayres; L – Laing
2B – Wright (E); Henderson (R); HR – Wehrman (R). Records – E (4-16); R (9-12).
