The Carolina Rockies held their playoff destiny in their own hands today, with a 11-7 win over HWS Garages to secure the sixth seed in next week’s playoffs.

After a sluggish start that led to seven early runs scored by HWS Garages, starting pitcher Jim McVitty (2-4) combined with Danny Sapp to shut down the HWS Garages’ offense for four innings, allowing only three hits.

Down 7-6 in the home half of the 5th inning, the Rockies scored five runs that began with consecutive hits by Everardo Guitierrez and Danny Sapp. Luis Lozano drove in a run on a sacrifice fly that was followed by hits from Jeff Pate and Jim McVitty. David McKnight capped the scoring with a double to drive in two runs.

The Rockies (3-8), with sixth place secured, will face the third seed Raleigh Rebels in the first round of the playoffs next Saturday at Heritage High School. Game time is 3:00 PM.

Rebels win in a walkoff

The game was tied at three with Raleigh Rebels batting in the bottom of the seventh when a couple of hits and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Vince Strickland hit a slow roller down the third-base line that allowed Joey Sogluizzo to score the winning run.

The Red Sox fired up the offense in the second inning when Brett Woodsen drove in Tim Ryan. Dave Swoveland and Slade Barnett scored in the third for the Sox.

Joey Sogluizzo started on the hill for the Rebels. He surrendered three runs on four hits over five innings, striking out three and walking one. Felix Rosado picked up the win throwing the final two scoreless innings.

The Rebels collected nine hits on the day. Mark Watson and Rob Appel each racked up multiple hits.