Sherando Baseball Over Wood, 4-2

Posted: May 6, 2015
By JERRY HOLSWORTH
Special to The Winchester Star

STEPHENS CITY — Sherando used small ball and a no-hitter by starting pitcher Adam Whitacre to upend James Wood Tuesday 4-2 in Northwestern District baseball.

“We had some senior ballplayers in the heart of our line up that were totally unselfish and executed well to give us the opportunity to score those runs,” Warrior coach Pepper Martin said.

Whitacre was almost flawless on the mound for Sherando (6-9 overall, 3-2 Northwestern, 2-4 Conference 21), registering 10 strikeouts and only one walk through seven innings. Both of the Colonel (9-5, 2-3, 4-1) runs were unearned.

“That’s my first no-hitter on varsity,” Whitacre said. “I had one on the JV team my freshman year. It really feels good to get a win too. Hopefully, we can build on this and have some more success. I was just pitching to contact. I have a lot of faith in our defense, and was just going to let them hit the ball to them.”

Through the first three innings it looked as though both pitchers were going to toss no-hitters. Colonel starter KaCee Duggan got the Warriors out in order through two innings. He finally allowed a hit with two outs in the third when Ty Michaud singled to left.

Duggan struck out two through five innings and allowed just one walk. Unfortunately for Wood, that walk set off a series of plays that left the Colonels trailing by three runs.

With the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the fourth, Duggan walked leadoff hitter Frank Ritter. Sherando then used brilliant base running and two bunts to break open the scoring.

Connor Stevenson followed with a sacrifice bunt that moved Ritter to second. He moved to third on Pearce Bucher’s single and raced home on Quentin Rohrbaugh’s perfect bunt down the first base line.

“Quentin’s bunting has been coming around this year,” Martin said. “He struggled a little at the beginning of the year, but he’s been doing a real nice job lately. I told Frank that as soon as he saw that the bunt was down to break to the plate. It really wasn’t a suicide squeeze, we were just trying to make their first baseman make the play and get a run in.”

“Coach called me aside and told me to push a bunt down the first baseline and I hit it the best that I could,” Rohrbaugh said. “I’m really happy about this win. It’s our first back-to-back wins of the season, and I thought we looked really good tonight defensively. We just have to keep it up.”

A single by Austin Simmons scored Bucher, and a ground out to second by Michael White scored Rohrbaugh to put Sherando ahead up 3-0.

With Whitacre pitching skillfully, Wood needed some creative small ball of its own to get back into the game, and, like the Warriors it started with a walk and some clever base running.

Cohen Kerns walked with one out, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. A throwing error by the Warrior third baseman on a grounder by Joel Smith advanced Kerns to third. Smith moved to second on another wild pitch.

A groundout by Reid Barber scored Kerns, and moved Smith to third. Smith the stole home after a Whitacre pitch, sliding under the tag by Warrior catcher Stevenson to narrow Sherando’s lead to 3-2.

“Coach called the steal,” Smith said. “It was really big gamble, and a really close play a the plate, but I think my toe hit the plate just before he made the tag.”

Whitacre responded to the Colonel fifth inning by getting the Wood out in order in the sixth with three straight strikeouts. The Colonel’s only runner during the final two innings was Kris Malsch, who advanced to first in the seventh when he was hit by a pitch.

The Warriors got an insurance run in their half of the sixth when Stevenson led off the inning with a double to the left field fence. Collin Painter, who ran for Stevenson, scored from third on a wild pitch by Colonel relief pitcher Cameron Gross.

“I really thought that we played pretty well tonight,” Wood coach Brent Lockhart said. “Kacee pitched really well on the mound and our defense played exceptionally well behind him. We just didn’t bring the bats tonight. Whitacre also pitched an exceptional game to them.”o pitched an exceptional game to them.”