Nelson County advances to semis with win over William Campbell

By Laura Clark

Published: May 22, 2008

In what may have been his final game on the mound, senior Ben Ponton led the Govs to a 16-10 win against William Campbell in the Dogwood District quarterfinals at home on May 19.

“Well, the second inning my arm started to hurt, and I think it’s done for the rest of the year,” said Ponton, who struck out the side in two innings and picked up 11 strikeouts in all.

He had been working through the elbow injury with physical therapy, but said he needs Tommy John surgery on it, especially to have a chance at walking onto Virginia Tech’s baseball team next year.

Coach Scott McGarry was less definitive about Ponton (5-1) calling it quits.

“He’s pitched really well, and if his career finishes tonight on a positive note, extends our season, that’ll be fine,” McGarry said. “But we’ll see. If we manage to win two more games with the other pitchers this week, and we play Monday, he may be in a different situation by then.”

With the win, Nelson travels to Appomattox for the Dogwood District semifinals on May 21 at 6 p.m.

The Govs jumped on William Campbell in the first inning, taking a 4-0 lead as Robbie Poole relieved starter Darrell Easley on the mound.

The Generals came back in the second, starting with Trip Green’s solo home run. William Campbell punched holes in Nelson’s defense; scoring six runs on a double and an error plus two more home runs. In the bottom of the second, Nelson retook the lead. With bases loaded, Ponton scored Andy Gordon on a grounder. Poole walked M.J. Wells to tie, and Jordan Wooten scored on a wild pitch.

“We had to fight through the mental game of getting down,” Gordon said. “I think we thought, first inning when we jumped ahead, we’d be okay and coast, but they came back and they responded. We just bounced back. Even though they were hitting hard, we made the next play.”

Ponton and Nelson’s defense shut out the Generals three of the next five innings. Meanwhile, the Govs connected at the plate. Poole was relieved in the fourth by Adam Holbrooks, who struck out four batters, but was then relieved in the sixth by Brandon Adams.

“We were patient, which led to a lot of walks,” McGarry said. “We scored runs in every inning but one.”

Gov Jared Truslow led the offense, going 4-for-5 and driving in six runs. Ponton, Wooten and Chris Jones each had three hits. Ponton had four RBIs.  Wells had two RBIs.

The Govs split with Appomattox during the regular season. Nelson did not face Raider ace lefty Tim Dudley (7-0) either time. Dudley has a nagging injury that may keep him from pitching Wednesday. McGarry said his goal is to put the pressure on the Raider’s defense by taking advantage of an infield that’s not in good shape.

“They had some damage to it by a tarp, a lot of grass killed in some spots where if you put it in play, the ball can take some bounces and funny things can happen,” McGarry said.