Crosson Rallies To Stay Undefeated

AVON PARK - Spotting your opponent five runs is never a wise decision, but Travis Crosson Tree Service likes to live dangerously.

The Avon Park team rallied from a deep hole to beat Wells Roofing, Inc. 13-5 during the opening day of the Avon Park Dixie Boys (ages 13-14) Invitational Tournament on Saturday at Durrah Martin Sports Recreational Complex.

This was the Crosson team's second victory of the day, as the squad defeated Ft. Meade 14-4 under extremely hot conditions in the morning game to stay in the winner's bracket and were scheduled to face the Hardee team on Sunday in the double-elimination tournament.

Results were not available at press time.

"We were all really tired coming into this game," said Crosson outfielder MJ Rhoden, who was acquired from the Zeno's Pizza team after the regular season.

"The fatigue really showed early in the game, but we hung on and came up with the win."

After finally taking an 8-5 lead heading into the sixth inning, Crosson knew that they needed some more runs to feel comfortable against Wells Roofing.

"They can put up runs in bunches," said coach Brock Crosson to his team in the huddle. "This is our inning and we need to let them know that."

And runs Crosson delivered when Carlton Brock's shot into deep center field turned into a three-run inside-the-park home run to open the inning.

Jason Salva scored on a wild pitch and Matt Robert's sacrifice plated a run for the margin of victory.

Lane Crosson came on to get the final three outs in the seventh for the victory.

"This is a good team," Rhoden said. "I've faced them enough during the regular season. I know exactly how this team plays and how much they feed off one another.

"It didn't take long for me to fit in."

Crosson, which squandered two chances in the third and fourth innings to chip away at the lead, took advantage of some poor fielding by Wells Roofing, as back-to-back miscues led to Cartlon Brock crossing the plate for the first run, while Kevin Espoda drove in Billy Rogers from second to cut the lead to just three.

But after setting Wells Roofing down in order, Crosson was just getting started, as the AP team erupted for six runs off three hits for an 8-5 lead.

Jarvrel Hart got things going when he smacked a lead-off triple over the center fielder's head and scored on Lane Crosson's sacrifice fly. Brock and Jason Salva reached on a single and a walk, before scoring in tandem on a fielding error by the outfield.

Rogers and Matt Roberts both reached base and scored on errors by Wells Roofing to take a three-run lead.

Wells Roofing was dominant in the first half of the game and looked to be in complete control of the action on the field.

Offensively, the LP team looked very sharp, as Rufino Gutierrez pummeled a double just fair down the left-field line that scored Tyler Kelion.

Cody Lambert scored on a wild pitch and Areneita Gobourne's sacrifice grounder gave Wells Roofing a 3-0 lead.

Pitcher Morgan Lott gave up no runs and just three hits, while striking out four to get out of several jams in the early going.

In the second, Lott saw Crosson get runners on second and third with no outs, but the Wells Roofing hurler struck out the next three batters to end the threat.

Lott nearly repeated those heroics in the third inning, but with two on and one out, he tallied a strikeout and forced a ground out to end the inning.

Wells Roofing would add two more runs in the third on bad decisions in the field by Crosson that allowed Lott and Chris Kenon to cross home plate and increase their lead to five.