Colonels' bats heat up in romp over Fauquier

WINCHESTER — James Wood has gotten off to a solid start to the baseball season, but the Class 4 finalists from last spring haven’t exactly been tearing the cover off the ball.

In their previous three games (two wins), the Colonels amassed just seven hits and five runs. After getting just two hits in a loss at Musselman (W.Va.) on Monday, James Wood coach Adrian Pullen spent plenty of practice time on hitting.

The renewed offensive focus paid dividends as Class 4 Northwestern District play resumed on Thursday. Led by four hits from Kemper Omps, the Colonels smacked 12 and scored in four of five innings in a 12-2 romp against Fauquier at R. Charles Hott Field. Nick Bell and Colin McGuire, who went four strong innings on the mound, had two hits apiece, while Michael Jackson belted a three-run double in a six-run third inning.

“Yesterday in practice, we worked on hitting the whole time,” explained Omps, a left-handed hitting junior who had four hits for the first time in a varsity game. “I really think that got our confidence up, 100 percent. We were seeing the ball better and hitting the ball better. I think that helped.”

Pullen liked what he saw from his club at the plate.

“We’re are fully capable of doing that all of the time,” Pullen said. “Right now, we are struggling with consistency in all phases of the game. But, it’s March. It’s not how you play in March. It’s how you play into May and June. We’ll get there. We have some goals and we’ll continue to march toward those. … Tonight was good for our confidence after the game against Musselman. We didn’t play well [Monday], but for us to bounce back, that was definitely where we needed to be tonight.”

Pullen said he’s experimented with the Colonels’ batting order nearly every game this season. Omps, who had been primarily in the sixth spot, moved up to No. 2 in the lineup and delivered in every at-bat.

“I don’t think we’ve had the same lineup, yet,” Pullen said. “We’ll continue to tweak. I’ve got all of the confidence in Kemper that he can do anything he sets his mind to, but I have that same confidence with everybody on our team. He gave us a little spark.”

Omps said didn’t do much different in his career day at the plate. “It was nothing really,” he said. “It was thinking opposite and going ‘oppo’ and turning on it if it was an inside pitch. It was not much other than that.”

Omps actually got the game started on a big play with his glove. Fauquier’s A.J. Lamper led off with a sinking liner to right-center and Omps hustled in from center field to make a diving catch.

“It just felt like a natural instinct,” Omps said. “Coach Pullen has been working with us going and getting the ball. I just hustled and got there.”

“I think that set the rhythm for the whole game, really,” McGuire said of Omps’ catch. “It was a great play. It really was.”

The Colonels (4-1, 2-0 district) wasted little time jumping on Fauquier starter Jacob Curtis. John Copenhaver worked Curtis for a leadoff walk and then swiped second base. Omps drilled a single to right to plate Copenhaver and took second on the throw home. He scored easily as Bell ripped a double to deep lef and McGuire followed with an RBI single to right to make it 3-0.

The Colonels blew it open in the third. Omps led off with a single up the middle, stole second and scored on Bell’s RBI single to left. McGuire and Eli Miller (bunt) followed with singles to load the bases. Jared Neal’s single plated Bell and prompted a pitching change.

With the bases still loaded, Jackson cleared them as he greeted reliever Masyn McMickle with long double down the left-field line. After taking third on the throw home, Jackson scored on play at first base after a strikeout to make it 9-0.

The nine runs were a welcome sight for McGuire, who had a bit of a bone to pick with the Falcons. In the first district matchup between the two teams last season, Fauquier handed McGuire one of his only two losses on the mound in a 6-0 triumph.

“It was definitely a thought when I first started on the mound,” McGuire said of last year's game. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to get a little better of a start this time than last time. It was definitely a rough time last year.”

McGuire didn’t allow a hit through three innings and struck out five consecutive batters at one point. After an error to start the fourth, Fauquier’s Eli Bynaker singled through the middle for the Falcons’ first hit. Curtis followed with an RBI double and eventually scored on a groundout.

McGuire left after allowing two hits and one earned run with two walks and seven strikeouts.

“I think I started out well,” the senior right-hander said. “I had a good pace and got a good rhythm through the first three innings. I let up a little bit and got complacent, but we ended up getting the win. It was a good win.”

While Fauquier (0-3, 0-2) has yet to win this season, the Falcons have been tough. Fauquier was within two outs of knocking off Sherando on Tuesday before the Warriors rallied for three in the seventh to win 5-3. The Falcons lead 2-1 in the fourth inning of a suspended game against unbeaten Millbrook.

“They are a good hitting baseball team,” McGuire said. “I had to hit my spots to get them out.”

In the bottom of the fourth, Omps singled, moved up to second on an error on a pickoff play, stole third and scored on a wild pitch. McGuire later walked in the frame and also scored on a wild pitch to make the score 11-2.

Garett McAlexander pitched a scoreless fifth in relief of McGuire, continuing a string of solid early season outings. He allowed one hit and struck out one.

“I’ve got all of the confidence in the world with him,” Pullen said of McAlexander, who is a newcomer to the varsity. “He is what he is. He’s not Nick or Colin. … We ask him to go out on the mound and compete and be Garett. So far he’s done that and we’ll keep running him out there.”

Omps appropriately ended the contest. Trevor Strosnider, who entered the game in the fifth, smacked a one-out single and moved to second on an outfield error. With two outs, Omps blooped a single into short left field for the walk-off win.

While the season is still early, McGuire likes what he’s seeing from his teammates.

“I think the brotherhood is really higher than last year,” he said. “I think the bond is more together and we playing really well as a team. It’s only the fifth game of the year and we have a lot more to work on to get better.”

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