Duggan Leads Colonels Past Eagles, 10-5

Posted: April 24, 2015
By JOSH DORSEY
Special to The Winchester Star

BERRYVILLE — James Wood Colonels senior KaCee Duggan made sure the Colonels had a lead to work with before they took the field Thursday against Clarke County.

Before going to work on the mound with his right arm, leadoff-hitter Duggan went to work with his legs. He drew a leadoff walk, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and eventually scored on a throwing error by the Eagles shortstop.

The early lead after the top half of the first inning was something that Duggan and the Colonels would not surrender in their 10-5 non-district road victory at Singhas Field.

The sequence accounted for one of Duggan’s two walks on the night, one of his three stolen bases, and the first of his two runs scored.

“Getting early runs always helps, it takes the pressure off,” Duggan said.

Despite not recording a strikeout on the mound, Duggan pitched four innings, giving up no runs and only two hits in front of a spectacular defensive effort by the Colonels.

“Getting the early lead helped a lot,” said senior catcher Cohen Kerns. “It gave us that cushion to go out and not worry about it. Clarke hit the ball well too, we just made some great plays.”

Duggan admitted that although his numbers were solid, he did struggle at the start with adverse conditions.

“I felt good for the most part,” Duggan said. “I was having trouble getting first-pitch strikes and getting out ahead, but I did a good job battling and staying in it. They put the ball in play and our defense did really well. That’s why I didn’t give up any runs. The mound that I warmed up on was a lot different than the mound in the game, so I really didn’t get into a good rhythm until the second inning. That’s when I felt like I got in my groove.”

“I think we did alright,” said James Wood coach Brent Lockhart. “KaCee did a nice job in the game for us throwing strikes and giving us ground balls. We played alright defense and we took our bases when we weren’t getting the pitches at the plate. We put the ball in play and gave us a chance to win.

“He did well, he got us through four innings without giving up any runs. He gave us a chance to win and you can’t ask much more than that.”

The Colonels (7-4) put their leadoff batter on base in for four of the seven innings. James Wood’s lead runners scored in each of those innings.

“We did not play well at all today,” said Clarke County coach Jon Novick. “There are not a lot of positives you can take away from today at all. We made mental mistakes and we had kids pouting. It was not a good day today. Leadoff walks will always kill you. We have a problem with that. That was his [Colton Webb] first start as a varsity pitcher. But leadoff walks will kill you. When they get their leadoff guy on every inning, they are going to score.”

James Wood scored a run in each of the first two innings before opening up a bit more in the fourth when they picked up two runs with the help of a leadoff double by senior Kris Malsch and a clutch two-out RBI single from sophomore Joel Smith and then another Clarke County passed ball that scored Smith.

Smith also closed out the game by pitching two innings and did not allow an earned run.

“I think Joel [Smith] did an excellent job today on the mound as well as at the plate,” Lockhart said. “That was his first time back in the lineup in about two weeks, he did a great job today.”

In the fifth inning the Colonels really opened up their lead with four straight hits from the heart of their lineup that led to four runs, including a towering two-run home run from Kerns. Ironically, it was Kerns’ second career high school homer and his first also came at Clarke County during his sophomore season.

“When I went up I was really just trying to make contact and get on base,” Kerns said. “But I got all of it and it went pretty far, so that’s all I could hope for. It’s a little bit of a shorter field but you still have to hit it with some power to get it out.”

“It’s big having our two, three and four hitters come up with a couple extra base hits,” Lockhart said. “As long as we keep swinging it, we are going to be alright. It’s huge getting the ball out of the ballpark from your number six hitter in the lineup.”

The Eagles (3-6-1) took advantage of some Colonels’ mistakes in the bottom of the fifth to score four runs to mount a slight comeback.

“They gave us some free bases really,” Novick said. “I don’t think we did anything special there in the fifth.”

James Wood came back with two more runs in the sixth to once again relieve the pressure and seal the victory despite giving up an unearned run in the seventh.

“We’ve made some strides but today was definitely a step in the wrong direction,” Novick said.