SULPHUR — No. 2 Rosepine weathered an early storm from No. 3 Mangham in the Class 2A semifinals Wednesday to win 9-5 and punch its first ticket in program history to the championship game of the state baseball tournament.
“It is Cloud 9,” Rosepine head coach Jeff Smith said. “I can’t describe the feeling very much right now. We are very happy. “
Rosepine will face the winner of No. 1 Doyle (27-8) and No. 5 Loreauville (21-9) at 10 a.m. Friday at McMurry Park.
“I just hope we can come out and throw strikes, be efficient on defense and maybe our offense will give us a chance because we can swing it a little bit,” Smith said.
The Eagles’ (28-5) lone semifinal appearance ended with a 7-1 loss to Lakeside in 2017.
Down 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning, the Eagles rallied for five runs. Jake Smith scored on a passed ball, two runs scored on an error, and Brady Phelps hit a two-run double to right field.
“We knew it was going to be tough, and we knew that we were going to have to fight,” Smith said. “They came out early and just kind of got after us.
“I got after our guys in the dugout and told them we are going to have to fight pitch by pitch and just punch back. And they did. I am proud of their resilience.”
The Dragons (24-5) cut Rosepine’s lead to one in the third inning, but the Eagles responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning, highlighted by Grant Ducote’s two-RBI triple. The sophomore went 4-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.
“Ducote, coming up with the big hit at the right time, he has kind of been in the shadows of some of our other guys all year long,” Smith said. “I think he is the most underrated guy on our team, but man, did he shine tonight.”
Mangham got to Rosepine starter Casey Tilley in the first inning, scoring three runs on five hits, including backto-back RBI singles by Cade Ingram and Connor Smith.
Junior Braden Trull relieved Tilley with no outs in the third inning and held the Dragons to one run over the final five innings with four strikeouts and three walks.
“Gritty, gritty right there,” Smith said. “We knew that we were going to go to Trull early if we had to, and we did.
“He is kind of our bulldog. He got out there and got the job done. He is a tough kid.”
The teams combined for 24 hits.
Josh Uchtmann led the Dragons, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and three doubles.