Seeds and Baseball: Stark County @ ROWVA

Stark County @ ROWVA (Baseball)
(5/4/10)

A great conversation was held in Oneida on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon during the ROWVA/Stark County Lincoln Trail Conference baseball game. I walked to the bleachers behind home plate, as the game just began, and saw my buddy Joe Nichols (Abingdon baseball coach) sitting there.

Throughout the contest, we chatted about numerous things, but the one thing that sticks out was our discussion on sunflower seeds. Seeds and baseball go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly, bread and butter, and....well you get the point. There is always a bag of seeds in my car, beginning at the time of year I can roll my windows down, as to not use a spitter, or as it happens on many occasions, my floorboards.

Personally, I have a taste for all flavors of seeds. This season, I have gone through two bags of barbecue, and a bag of ranch. My favorite varies, depending on which bag I have had more, in turn acquring a bland taste for the most common.

I asked Joe what flavor, and he went with the original. He says it's his choice for sunflower seeds, and the "craziest" he gets is barbecue. I shared my opinions, and then we talked about other flavors. In stores, the most popular, or stocked, are the original, barbecue, and ranch. Once in a while you see a nacho cheese and jalapeno.

Jalapeno is a flavor I've never tried, commenting that I am normally not a spicy eater, though have built up a taste lately. Joe mentioned that nacho cheese is pretty good, another flavor that will be placed on my list. It just so happens that my latest bag (the 2nd barbecue) is almost empty, so I will certainly need to stock one of these latter flavors for my travels this weekend.

Nichols was in attendance for this game, as his Commandoes has ROWVA coming up on the schedule, and is also set to face Stark County during the final week of the regular season. You may remember Nichols as the mastermind behind the video gold punked prank on his shortstop, Brandon Harroun, earlier this year. That prank was guided by Brad Siedel, who smeared shaving cream in Harroun's face during our video interview, ala Major League Baseball pranks on rookies.

The Tigers had just clinched the Lincoln Trail Conference title in their previous game, and entered this league matchup, (21-3, 14-0). ROWVA has won the last four LTC championships. They scored twice in the 1st inning off Stark County starter Ky Paxson. After the Rebels committed two errors, and Paxson issued a walk, the Rebels held an infield conference at the mound, down 2-0 with 0 outs.

Coming out of that timeout worked, as Paxson sat the following three batters down, all via strikeouts. He finished with 6 strikeouts, but 10 walks in 3 innings. In fact, ROWVA had 12 baserunners into the 4th inning, with just one hit.

ROWVA added another run in the 2nd inning, to take a 3-0 lead. In the top of the 3rd inning, Stark County loaded the bases with two outs, but Tigers starter Tyler Martin had a strikeout to end the inning, and Stark County stranded the bases loaded.

Three more runs were added in the 3rd by ROWVA. Three walks were issued in the frame, along with two errors, a single, and fielder's choice. The hosts led 6-0 through 3 innings. ROWVA poured on five more runs in the 4th inning, this time getting some hits, in favor of walks and errors. In the inning, ROWVA had four hits, and three walks, to jump out on top, 11-0.

The Rebels wanted to avoide the ten-run rule in the top of the 5th inning, plating two runs to make it a nine-run game. Trevor McCarthy led off the bottom of the 5th inning with a double. He would advance to third base on a fielder's choice, then score the game-ender on a wild pitch, to give ROWVA the 12-2 win in 5 innings. Matt Shepherd led the Tigers offense with two hits, and 3 RBI, and Martin was the winning pitcher.

After the game, I tracked down head coach John Clark for a video interview. One of the most difficult interviews, as I battled a barking dog, buffalo gnats, and a very loud train. In fact, I couldn't hear what Coach Clark was saying, I was just reading his lips to make sure he wasn't done talking. Afterwards, we found senior shortstop Trevor McCarthy. He will be headed to Olney Central College on a baseball scholarship.

Driving out of Oneida, I passed Amy's Pantry. Normally, I don't even look twice at marquee signs with the clever sayings, anymore, since every business and church seems to be taking the comical route. This one tickled my funny bone at the Oneida convenience store. The sign out front read, "My boss told me to change the sign........so I did." Good one!

Heading through Galesburg, and a stop at Casey's in Abingdon for gas, I drove down Route 41. I heard a few ROWVA fans in the bleachers talking about Club 41, in St. Augustine. The Tigers played in Bushnell the night before, and a few fans made the stop at the dining establishment known for their wonderful onion rings. Even driving through town at 40-45 miles/hour, the smell of onion rings grabbed my attention, and made that stomach crave some fried food.