Handley Baseball Holds Off Colonels, 4-3

Posted: May 7, 2014
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — First-year Handley baseball coach Patrick Wingfield had probably envisioned this kind of game from his team when he first took the job.

So what if it took until May 6 for the Judges to get pitching, defense, and clutch hitting together on the same day.

Playing for the first time in almost two weeks, Handley certainly did not show much rust as it led throughout and held off a late rally by James Wood to pick up a 4-3 Northwestern District win on Tuesday night at Bridgeforth Field.

Blaine Homan went all seven innings to notch his third pitching win, the Judges manufactured runs in three different innings, and the defense — which was a sore spot early on this season — turned in a pair of double plays and got a diving catch by senior Andrew Lins in foul territory in the seventh inning to put a feather in the squad’s second straight win.

The Judges (3-7, 2-5 district) were giving up an average of 11 runs over their first six games, but runs for opponents have been hard to come by since Handley knocked off Skyline 5-3 in its most recent game before topping the Colonels (8-5, 3-4).

“As a team, I think we’re coming around,” said Wingfield. “Until [Tuesday] we hadn’t really put all facets of the game together, but we came out and swung the bats well, we played great defense, and Blaine did a great job on the mound for us.”

Through six innings, Homan had worked himself in and out of trouble, and did well to hold the Colonels to one run to that point.

Homan allowed the leadoff batter to reach in all seven innings, and the trend continued when Noah Keller hit a pop into shallow left that fell in when Handley shortstop Nick Dempsey and left fielder Dwight McGinnis collided trying to snag the fly.

Keller ended up on second with a charity double, and pinch-runner Roger Repasky moved over a base after Dempsey had a throwing error (Handley’s first and only one of the game) on Dakota Orndorff’s grounder.

With runners on the corners, Eli Warren hit a deep fly to left that got behind McGinnis and fell for a run-scoring double.

After getting a visit from pitching coach and former Handley standout Jeff Hahn, Homan got the first out on Cameron Bias’ sacrifice fly to center, which scored Orndorff to make it 4-3.

From there, defense took over for the Judges.

Bryan Whitacre hit a sharp grounder to third, which Clifton Ambers knocked down to prevent James Wood from potentially scoring the tying run.

Then, in a matter of two pitches, Homan was off the hook. A first-pitch bunt was popped up foul to the left of home plate by Reid Barber, and Lins alertly jumped out and made a diving catch for the second out.

The next pitch saw KaCee Duggan line out to McGinnis in left, and the game was over.

“[Homan] challenged hitters and made them put the ball in play,” said Wingfield. “It was unbelievable defense behind him. Clifton playing his first game at third base and making a diving play and saved the tying run there. Andrew [Lins] bouncing off the plate and making that sliding catch on the bunt.

“Just tons of plays in the field. Nick [Dempsey] and [second baseman] Josh [Blake] had a couple double plays. So, yeah, we’ve come a long way in the field, and it all comes back at how hard they’ve worked at it.”

The big thing for Homan (3-2) was not getting frustrated after allowing leadoff batters to reach base.

James Wood certainly did not help itself early on. Homan hit Duggan with the game’s first pitch, but he was promptly picked off moments later. In the second, Warren lined into a 4-3 double play to end the frame. In the third, Bias was erased attempting to reach third with one on and one out on a comebacker to Homan. In the fourth, Keller tapped into a rare 1-4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

To his credit, Homan was able to work out of danger and trust his defense to make plays.

“I just came out and tried to throw strikes the whole game,” said Homan, who spaced six hits (three in the seventh), walked two, hit a batter, and struck out four in going the distance. “Good defense was behind me the whole game and it all paid off.”

Having Hahn come out in the seventh and chat to settle some nerves helped Homan a bit as well, the right-hander said.

“It just settled me down and helped me relax a bit, and he told me to just keep throwing strikes,” said Homan, who has one more pitching victory than he had innings pitched from last season. “It’s the first year I’ve started on the mound and [Hahn’s] just basically taught me a lot. I had bad mechanics, but he’s corrected everything and made sure everything’s sharp.”

The Judges gave Homan plenty of support by moving runners and getting clutch hitting.

Singles by Lins (2 for 3, two runs scored), Dempsey (1 for 2, run scored), and Homan (2 for 3, two RBIs) in the first made it 1-0 against James Wood starter and losing pitcher Carder Smith.

Brian Thomas (1 for 2, run scored) led off the third with a walk, and Lins singled to right. Each player stole a base during their tour around the bases, and a ground out by Dempsey and another run-scoring hit from Homan made it 3-0.

James Wood answered with its first run in the fifth, but Handley struck right back with another score. Dempsey had a one-out walk, moved to second on a wild pitch by Keller, and scored on a single from Ambers (1 for 2, RBI).

The Colonels made it tight late, but the lack of clutch hitting in early innings again led to catchup mode.

“That’s how our season’s [went] — we’re still not hitting the ball,” said James Wood coach Brent Lockhart. “... We’re probably averaging leaving 10 runners on [base] a game. Until someone wants to step up and get some [clutch] base hits, it’s going to be tough to score runs.”