Sherando Baseball Routs Wood In Rematch, 11-0

Posted: April 23, 2014
By MARK SAWYER
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — After stumbling out of the gate and losing three of their first four games of the season, the Sherando High School baseball team has apparently righted the ship with impressive back-to-back run-rule victories over Skyline and Handley, outscoring the two 24-0.

This is the week the Warriors had circled on the calendar with a chance to face all three teams they had lost to earlier in the season and show how much they’ve improved.

James Wood, on the other hand, has been impressive in the first month of the season, winning seven of its nine games — including the first meeting against Sherando and three straight since their lone Northwestern District loss to Millbrook.

In the first meeting between the two Frederick County rivals Wood scored a pair of unearned runs and slipped past the Warriors 2-1, handing Sherando pitcher Tyler Michaud a hard-luck loss.

Michaud decided in the rematch that he would just have to be a little bit better, and he was. Michaud fired a three-hit shutout at the Colonels and Sherando continued its offensive tear, rolling to its third straight Northwestern District run-rule shutout victory with an 11-0 win at Wood’s R. Charles Hott Field.

“Early in the season is old news. We knew what was keeping us from winning games and from being successful,” Sherando coach Pepper Martin said. “Another game where we played pretty solidly in all four facets of the game and tonight we made adjustments [at the plate].

“We’re starting to scratch and claw our way back into contention after starting 0-2 in the district. We’ve worked our way back to 3-2 and we have another tough district game on Thursday [Millbrook]. One game at a time but we can definitely see improvement and we can also see an increase in confidence, particularly in the kids that were backups last year and are asked to fill big shoes and are counted on to have solid performances for us.”

Sherando (4-3, 3-2 Northwestern District) scored more runs in the first inning Tuesday night than it did the entire first game against Wood, and the Warriors did it all without getting a hit.

The Warriors used the stolen base to set up their first two runs, but had help from the Colonels along the way as well.

Adam Whitacre and Zach Henke started the inning by drawing back-to-back walks and then between them they stole three bases, putting two runners in scoring position in the first inning. Whitacre scored on an error after stealing both second and third, and Henke made it 2-0 when he scored on a sacrifice fly.

Still leading 2-0, the Warriors expanded the lead with three more runs in the third and they just kept rolling from there.

Henke led off the inning with an infield single and Chase Smallwood reached on an error. Designated hitter Reid Entsminger then ripped a double to the fence in left, scoring both Henke and Smallwood for Entsminger’s third RBI of the game. Entsminger scored later in the inning to make it 5-0 on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rennie Marchi.

James Wood (7-3, 3-2) had runners on in every inning except the first but could not get the key hit to produce any runs. In the second inning, Michaud walked the leadoff hitter but retired the next three. With two outs in the third, the Colonels put together a small threat with a two-out walk and an error but Michaud got a ground ball to end the inning.

After the Warriors made it 6-0 in the top of the fourth, the Colonels had their best scoring opportunity in the bottom half.

With one out, Bryan Whitacre singled through the right side for the first hit of the game for Wood. Catcher Cohen Kerns followed with a single but Michaud retired the next two hitters to end the threat.

Sherando would make that missed opportunity hurt in the next inning. In the top of the fifth, the Warriors batted around, scoring five runs on four hits. They were helped by two James Wood errors, another walk and two wild pitches.

Hayden Fox and Adam Whitacre each had RBI singles, and Henke had a two-run double for the Warriors in the inning.

Whitacre led the way for the Warriors out of his leadoff spot. He finished the game 3 for 3 with a walk, two runs scored, one RBI and three stolen bases.

“We started off the game hitting the ball well and our defense made plays,” Whitacre said. “We executed a lot on the offensive end [getting runs early]. I think that was a big momentum boost. If we could just get ahead quick we would just stay there and keep putting the pressure on them.

“Once we started hitting it just starting clicking and our defense just kept making plays and helping out Ty. This was phase one of the three phases this week that we need to win to get payback [against teams they lost to earlier in the season].”

James Wood was held to just three hits with all three coming in the last two innings. Only one starter collected a hit for the Colonels. Bryan Whitacre and Roger Repasky each had a hit off the bench.

Sherando scored its 11 runs on nine hits but the Warriors were aided by four Wood errors. In addition to Adam Whitacre’s big game, Henke and Hayden Fox each had two hits. Henke and Entsminger both drove in three runs as well.

“They did well, they came out swinging much better tonight,” James Wood coach Brent Lockhart said. “Our pitchers didn’t throw enough strikes, we walked too many people and we didn’t play our normal defense tonight. The team with the least amount of mistakes usually wins and that’s what happened tonight. They didn’t make too many mistakes in the field, they had excellent plate appearances and their pitcher did an excellent job of throwing strikes.

“We’re just not hitting right now, we’re still 7-3 and we’ve got to do whatever we need to do to get these next two. We’ve got another one here [tonight]. Once again the team that made the least mistakes won here tonight.”