Colonels Outlast Judges For Baseball Victory

Posted: May 13, 2016
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — With two outs and the winning run on second base, James Wood senior Eli Warren admitted that he felt like a big spotlight was on him when he stepped into the batter’s box in the eighth inning.

The Colonels senior first baseman knew he needed to put the bat on the ball with teammate Joel Smith on second, and Warren did just that.

He sent a flare into shallow right field off of Judges reliever John Rosa that dropped between two Handley fielders, allowing Smith to score the winning run in the Colonels’ 7-6 Conference 21 West and Northwestern District victory over the Judges at R. Charles Hott Field on Thursday night.

Warren didn’t really barrel up the 2-1 offering from Rosa like he wanted to, but the final play was very much like many others in a game where nothing was really routine on a muddy, water-logged field after the game was delayed by about 15 minutes because of rain. The field was saturated after the 16th consecutive day of rain.

“I was extremely nervous up there,” said Warren, who went 2 for 4 with a double, a walk, two RBIs and a run. “Kind of all the pressure put on me. But I’ve been working out and trying to hit the outside pitch, and I was just lucky enough to get a little of the bat on it. Just barely.”

Warren was one of five James Wood players honored on Senior Night, and all five (Warren, Ethan Lieberman, Cameron Gross, Cody Polk and Charles Simmers) contributed in what turned out to be a hard-fought victory.

The Colonels (7-10, 2-2 conference, 2-3 district) let a 5-0 lead after five innings slip away and a 6-4 advantage with two outs in the top of the seventh get away.

“At the end of the day we got the win which is big,” said James Wood coach Brent Lockhart. “It’s still a tight race in the conference, playing for the 2-3-4 seeds. We got the win so that’s the big picture, and we’re coming off of 14 or 15 days of not playing, too.”

Warren drove in a run with an RBI double, and Simmers’ two-run single into the gap in right-center put James Wood ahead 5-0 in the fifth inning. Handley committed four errors in the inning (and totaled six in the game).

Gross allowed just three hits through the first five innings, but the Colonels senior lefty ran into trouble against Handley (1-14, 0-5 conference, 1-5 district) in the sixth.

Travis Painter (2 for 3, two runs scored) doubled into the gap in right-center to start the inning. After Clay Curbow walked, Rosa followed with an RBI single, and then Dwight McGinnis connected on a two-run double. An out later, McGinnis scored on a sacrifice fly by Jacob Torian to cut James Wood’s lead to 5-4.

The Colonels tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth. Lieberman singled and stole second to start the inning, and back-to-back errors by Handley loaded the bases. Warren drove in Lieberman with a sacrifice fly to center.

James Wood reliever Brady Renner retired the first two Handley batters he faced in the seventh, but a pair of errors helped the Judges rally to tie it.

Painter reached on an error after Polk slipped while throwing the ball from third to first. Polk’s throw sailed high and down the right-field line. Handley pinch hitter Matthew Wagner followed with a double to deep center to drive in Painter and cut Wood’s lead to 6-5. Another throwing error by the Colonels allowed Wagner to score the tying run.

Handley coach Patrick Wingfield said his team showed a lot of determination by rallying from the five-run deficit.

“A couple weeks ago, we were the type of team that would get overwhelmed by that 5-0 [deficit],” Wingfield said. “Today we were eager to get to the plate and battle our way back, and I think that’s a good sign. We’re playing with teams and we’re giving ourselves chances to win. We’re just not finishing anyone yet.”

Both starters, Gross and McGinnis, put up zeroes through the first four innings.

McGinnis needed just four pitches to retire the side in the first inning and allowed just an infield single the first time through the Colonels’ batting order.

McGinnis allowed just two hits through four innings, but then the Colonels sent 10 batters to the plate after Handley committed four errors in the fifth.

“We just kept our heads held high and kept each other in the game,” McGinnis said. “We put in a good effort with the field being as muddy and wet as it is.”

Gross made his first career varsity start and held Handley scoreless until the sixth. The senior lefty scattered six hits and struck out six.

“It was awesome, especially since it was my first start in my career,” Gross said. “It was something different and it felt great to go out there and throw for the team.

“I was just focusing on throwing strikes. I think we did a good job of keeping our heads [after Handley rallied] and just focusing on winning the game.”

The Colonels travel to face Sherando tonight at 7 in the conference finale, and then host Millbrook in a district game at noon on Saturday. Sherando also hosts Woodgrove in conference action today at 4 p.m. in the first game of a conference doubleheader for the Warriors.

Smith (4-2) retired Handley in order in the top of the eighth to get the win in relief.

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