Maroon Devils fall short against Rosman Tigers

Following a blowout loss to Hayesville on Friday, Swain County High School varsity baseball looked poised for a bounce-back win on Tuesday as the Devils struck first in the opening inning against Rosman. The Tigers answered in the second inning, however, to tie the game, then built a 4-1 lead that would prove insurmountable. A late rally by Swain in the bottom of the seventh fell just short and the visiting Tigers escaped with a 4-3 victory.

“Bottom of the first, we got our lead-off man on, Gabe Lillard, bunted him over and got him to third, then he scored, pretty much executed beautifully, and then it pretty much just seemed like after that we got a little comfortable,” said Head Coach Tyler Shuler. “A little lackluster, lost some focus, didn’t execute.”

Following Lillard’s run, Rosman tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning before a two-run home run in the fourth swung the momentum back in the Tigers’ favor. Swain struggled to advance lead-off hitters after the first inning, leaving several runners stranded on first and second base. The Devils’ bats finally came alive in the bottom of the seventh as they scratched out two runs to cut the margin to 4-3, but ran out of time to squeeze in what would have been the tying run. Shuler said that such a loss, however painful, provides a valuable lesson, especially this early in the season.

“If we’re going to be successful, everyone has to do their job and pull their part,” he said. “We can’t lose focus and we’ve got to capitalize. We’re getting the lead-off man on and we’ve got to do something. If we’ve got guys on first and second with one out, we’ve got to do something. Just capitalize.”

Despite the frustrations on the offensive side of play, Shuler noted that he was pleased with the Devils’ pitching in the loss.

“Carson Taylor threw a really good game,” he said. “He threw six and two-thirds and gave up three earned runs and did what we needed him to do. He kept it close and didn’t wilt.”

Swain hosted Murphy Wednesday night (after press time). The Devils last played the Bulldogs during the 2019 season. Murphy won both games by respective margin of 5-4 on March 22 and 13-5 on May 2, the season finale.

“I don’t really know what they have because we didn’t get to play them in the four games we had last year, so I don’t really know who left of who is still there,” Shuler said of Murphy. “I know they have some really good athletes who hit the ball extremely well. I know tomorrow we are going to have to play a solid game defensively and limit our mistakes because they are going to hit the ball well.”

The Devils will then be off for nearly a week before traveling to Andrews on Tuesday, May 18. Like Murphy, Swain has not faced Andrews since 2019, topping the Wildcats in both match ups and scoring a combined 36 runs over the two games.