Homer Happy Rebels Smash Southern

It is easy to say that the Howell High School baseball team did not catch many breaks in the beginning of the year. After all, with a 2-8 start, there were lots of obstacles standing in their way. 

But on Thursday afternoon the Rebels showed that they are turning things around despite a late scare against the Southern Regional Rams. After building up a 9-1 lead, the home team nearly saw its advantage disappear before charging back for a decisive 15-8 victory.

Senior Dan Watson started for Howell and the righty only allowed one run through his four innings of work, picking up the win. Watson struck out five and held a 9-1 lead when he was taken out.

Following Watson's removal, the Howell bullpen surrendered seven runs in two innings before Mark Doyle got a huge strike out to end the sixth inning. The strikeout came on the heels of a  a hit off the wall, which, combined with two errors, got the Rams within one run.

"He was crucial for us in that spot," said Howell head coach Eric Johnson, "they got a few hits off of him but we didn't help him out there making errors. He's probably our most improved player, he can reach down and get an out like that."

With the Rams threatening, Joe Raccuglia lead off the inning with a solo home run to left field. A batter later, fellow senior Brian Blood went yard as well.

"It's kind of funny for them, going back and forth for the home run lead on the team in that situation. They understood we needed a few runs there after the last half inning. Our leaders came through big for us today." said Johnson.

Following Blood's blast, the score was 11-8 in favor of Howell. Brody High later knocked in a two run double to make the score 13-8. That was followed by a Travis White sac fly to bring another run across. The last Rebel run was scored when Joe Raccuglia reached on an error and Brody High came around to score.

Andrew Osbourne came on to close in the seventh inning and set the Rams down in order.

After going through the stressful final three innings, Johnson said he would still would have made the decision to take out Watson.

"Absolutely not," said Johnson, on if he had any regrets relieving Watson, "we have six games in six days next week, and we're going to need his arm."

Howell jumped out to the lead before Watson even took the mound. Jesse Terranova scored after Brian Blood drove him in with an RBI single. Carmine Palummo hit the first of five home runs for the Rebels later in the inning for a 2-0 lead. Palummo hit another solo shot in his next at bat, finishing the day having gone 2-for-2 with two solo home runs, two walks and three runs scored.

The big blast came for the Rebels in the bottom of the fourth inning. Howell loaded the bases with no outs for Jesse Terranova, who hit a grand slam to centerfield to make the score 8-1.

"Some of the guys have the ability to crush the ball," said Johnson, "On a day like this with the wind, if you put a good swing on it, it's got a chance, especially hitting it to left field here."

Terranova went 2-for-4 with a grand slam, four RBI's, and two runs scored. Raccuglia was 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and two RBI's and runs scored, each while Blood went 3-for-4 with a home run, double, two runs scored and two RBI's as well.

The Rebels now stand at 7-9, having won four straight games.

"Defense, has been the true key to the turnaround," said Johnson, "we made some mistakes today but we have been doing a great job of picking each other up and managing to put games away also."

The next scheduled game for Howell is Monday, May 9th, against Manalapan High School at 3:45.