BASEBALL: MILLBROOK RALLIES PAST WOOD

Time was running out and the Millbrook baseball team was down to its last six outs.

James Wood had won on this same field just eight days before and had a two -run lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning of Saturday afternoon’s Northwestern District semifinal against the host Pioneers.

But just like that, Millbrook found some life when it all seemed to be at a loss. Two fielding errors by No. 3 James Wood, a balk, and senior center fielder Nick Strosnyder’s two -run single highlighted a four -run rally in the sixth and No. 2 Millbrook came away with a 5-3 win to secure a spot in Tuesday’s championship game (6 p.m) with No. 1 Sherando (a 7-0 winner over Skyline earlier Saturday).

Millbrook (16 -5) got a complete game pitching effort from senior Lane Spinks (who had lost to the Colonels a week ago) and had things fall into place in the end to earn the program’s first Region II berth since 2005.

“Credit to James Wood —heart of a champion,” Millbrook coach Brian Burke said. “You know, I’m sitting there, looking at the scoreboard, it’s 3-0 [early], and I think this is just one of those snake-bitten things where maybe it’s not supposed to be [to win].

“But the guys believed in themselves, they continued to battle, they never got down, and that’s a credit to a good ballclub. And that’s what we have right here.”

Down 3-1 heading to the sixth, the Pioneers had managed just four hits against James Wood pitcher Addison Barber.

To begin the rally, senior left fielder Matt Fazenbaker crushed a fly to left that got over Andy Kennedy’s head and went for a double. Ethan Mathews followed with a tough infield grounder that went for a single and one-base error, allowing Fazenbaker to trot home to make it a one-run game.

A sacrifice moved courtesy runner Daniel Nawrocki to third, and an error at third on Jeremiah Eaton’s sharp grounder tied the game at 3-3.

After Ryan Hartigan (2 for 2, RBI) drew a five-pitch walk, Dakota Orndorff was brought in to pitch. Then it got interesting.

With the count 1-2 to Zach Hughes, Orndorff went into the windup and stopped when he noticed Hughes had stepped partially out of the batter’s box. The plate umpire called nothing while one of the base umpires called for a balk. Both coaches pleaded their cases before the balk call was upheld. “It was the right call on the balk, but I just didn’t think they should have put the ball in play because the batter was obviously out of the box,” James Wood coach Jared Mounts said.

James Wood (11 -10) then elected to put Hughes on base to try for a force, but Strosnyder (1 for 3) came through and drove a second -pitch, one-out single to left to drive in pinch-runner James Morse and Hartigan for a 5-3 lead.

“I hadn’t done well the whole game, they brought in a new pitcher, and I felt good," Strosnyder said. "He threw it down the middle and I just connected."

Orndorff seemed rattled after the balk and walked Bruce Keenan in four pitches. The Colonels had to bring Colin Benner on, who did retire the next two batters to end the frame. The rest was up to Spinks. The right-hander gave up a pair of two -out hits in the seventh to Kennedy and Orndorff, but got A. J. Eubank on a ground out to second to lock down the win. "I was trying to keep my fast ball down and work it inside and out," Spinks said. "After the third inning I started feeling good, then we started hitting the ball a little more. We just got it done. I was really pumped to go out for the seventh."

On May 11, Spinks was knocked out in the third inning of a 6-4 loss to the Colonels. This time, Spinks (5-3) had better command of his pitches (just one walk) and retired 12 straight batters during one span.

"Lane has competed every time he has toed the rubber for us this year," Burke said. "He located better this time. He's been our go-to guy."

James Wood had taken advantage of an error by Spinks and a pair of run -scoring infield hits by Kennedy (2 for 3) and Orndorff (2 for 4) to move ahead 2-0 in the second. An RBI double by Barber in the third made it 3-0, but Spinks got dialed in from there and cruised through until deep in the seventh.

Mounts admired the drive his team showed at the end of the season [five -game win streak] to clinch a winning season and make a late run to move into third place in the district. "We told the guys that we were really proud of them for turning the program around," Mounts said. "We were 11-9 in the regular season, and we only had three wins two years ago and six last year. They stepped up big to get us in the right direction. We'll be back next year."