From the Capital-Journal:
It’s been a tough season for the Rossville Rattlers, and the trend seemed to be taking another downward spiral.
The Rattlers started strong to build a 7-2 lead over the Topeka Golden Giants in the fifth inning, but that lead slipped away. The Giants rallied and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on a balk.
Rossville didn’t get rattled. The Rattlers pulled even with a run in the eighth and scored again in the ninth for a 9-8 Mid-Plains League victory over the Giants on Thursday at Jerry Robertson Field.
“We could have folded a lot of times and, to be honest, earlier in the summer we might have folded,” Rattlers manager Tobi Cowdin said. “It’s been a big step for our young group to realize those things are going to happen in baseball and you have to regroup, get yourself back together and get ready to compete with the next pitch.
“Eventually, you can work yourself out of it and we did an excellent job of that tonight.”
Topeka starting pitcher Gavin Greenwood faced the minimum nine batters through three innings, allowing a single in the first but erasing the baserunner with a double play.
Rossville (6-16) then scored four runs in the fourth off Greenwood and three in the fifth off reliever Cameron Kay with a total of eight hits for a 7-2 lead.
“We started to sit back a little bit and let the ball get to us,” Cowdin said. “We were a little excited early trying to hit the ball hard, but once we let it get to us we did a good job of putting some good swings on the ball, moving runners and getting them in when we had chances to.”
The Giants (15-8) chipped away and took the lead in the seventh. Cole Hoover’s RBI groundout scored Christian Roduner to make it 7-7, and Erik Webb was on third with two outs.
Webb attempted to steal home and was out by two steps, but the base umpire called a balk on Rossville pitcher Jimmy Larson that brought Webb home with the go-ahead run.
The Rattlers tied it in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Jordan Maxson, who was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
Justin Cooper led off the Rossville ninth with a double, moved to third on Brandon Wilkerson’s sacrifice bunt and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Dylan Watts.
Watts, Caleb Littlejim and Reid Fehr, the top three hitters in the Rossville lineup, had two hits apiece and Aaron Dees had three RBIs with a sac fly and two-run triple.
Larson earned the win, allowing two runs on one hit and four walks in three innings.
“Larson came in and did his job,” Cowdin said. “He did a good job keeping his composure, hanging in there and throwing strikes and making them beat him. And the defense picked him up.”
Webb was 3-for-5 with a double and two stolen bases for the Giants.
The three-game series, tied at 1-1 concludes at 6 p.m. Friday at Robertson field.
Rossville 000 430 011 —9 13 2
Topeka 100 131 200 —8 9 2
Topeka 100 131 200 —8 9 2
Skoro, Middendorf (5), Larson (7) and Fehr. Greenwood, Key (5), Wulfkuhle (6), Cooper (7), Marreel (8), Smith (8), Demmel (9) and Hoover, Green (9). W — Larson. L — Demmel. 2B — Rossville: Fehr, Cooper. Topeka: Webb. 3B — Rossville: Dees.
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