James Wood rolls to baseball triumph over Sherando

WINCHESTER — There’s a saying in baseball that hitting is contagious.

The James Wood baseball team certainly has caught the bug in the last week and not even the chilly weather or a Class 4 Northwestern District rival could cool them off on Thursday evening.

Colin McGuire went 4 for 4 and drove in six runs, while Jared Neal also was a perfect 3 for 3 with three RBIs as the Colonels rolled to a 16-0 victory in five innings against the Warriors at R. Charles Hott Field.

Nick Bell (2-0) allowed just two hits in his second shutout of the season and benefited from a four-run first inning and an 11-run outburst in the fourth inning.

In their last three games (all against district opponents), the Colonels (6-1 overall, 4-0 district) have racked up 43 runs and 35 hits, including a dozen hits against the Warriors (4-4, 2-2).

“We were definitely swinging well from the start all of the way to the finish,” said McGuire, who had two doubles including one that cleared the bases for three runs in the first. “We were staying on them and hitting the ball well and square. We were running everything out. I feel like we played a very fundamental game today.”

McGuire certainly believes that adage about hitting.

“Once the top of the lineup starts hitting, everybody else underneath just keeps on hitting,” the senior said. “It keeps flowing. … It really is contagious. Once everybody starts hitting, everybody else keeps feeding it. It’s great.”

While the solid hitting may be infectious, it doesn’t come by accident.

“We have a system and a process of how to do things correctly,” James Wood coach Adrian Pullen said of the team’s recent batting prowess. “We have to execute the things we are trying to execute. We’re not going to hit the ball out of the ballpark. We need to do the things that are required to execute the game of baseball. We’re starting to learn that, little by little.”

While the Colonels have been feasting, it’s been famine for the Warriors. In three of its four losses, Sherando has been held to three hits or less.

“That’s two games in a row where we’ve had two hits,” Sherando coach Pepper Martin said. “You can’t win games with two hits.”

The Warriors have dropped three straight and haven’t scored more than four runs in those games. “It’s a stagnant offense,” Martin said. “We’ve been working on it whenever we’ve had an opportunity, but the practices have been too few and far between because of this compacted schedule we have at the beginning of the year. We’ve been able to practice twice in the last eight or nine days.

“How are you correct mistakes and work on weaknesses? You can’t. It’s off to the next game.”

Thanks to an error, the Warriors did have a runner at second with one out in the first inning against Bell, who hasn’t given up a run this season. Bell bounced back with two strikeouts and was part of the offensive uprising in the bottom of the first.

John Copenhaver had a nine-pitch at-bat before drawing a walk against Sherando starter Giancarlo Lisciandrello. Kemper Omps followed with a double to right.

The game was then halted for around 10 minutes as Lisciandrello developed a nosebleed which required attention. He returned to the mound and Bell drew a walk to load the bases for McGuire, who unloaded them with a long double to left. Omps and courtesy runner Sam Jackson arrived at the plate nearly together to make the score 3-0.

“It was a 3-1 count and I was sitting [on a] fastball and adjusting to anything else,” McGuire said. “He had a really good changeup so I was out in front earlier in that at-bat. I kept my hands back, followed through and sprinted toward first base.”

One out later, Neal chopped a grounder over the drawn-in infield to plate McGuire to make it 4-0.

That would be plenty for Bell, who wasn’t as sharp as he would of liked to be, but still plenty effective. The senior right-hander allowed just two hits, a third-inning single to Trey Williams and a fifth-inning single to pinch-hitter Dylan Frazier, while striking out seven with a walk and a hit batter.

“I was a little off in the beginning of the game, but all of my teammates made tremendous plays tonight,” Bell said. “That’s all you can ask for. When I can go out and know they are going to make the plays, I have all of the confidence in the world.

“I didn’t have everything that I wanted to have tonight,” he added. “I was pitching to contact and my defense made the plays. That keeps my pitch count down, too. … When we can come out and put four on them, it boosts everybody’s confidence.”

Martin said he expected runs to come hard against Bell. “There’s no doubt he’s the best pitcher in our district,” he said. “We were putting the ball in play a little bit, but we were hitting it right at them.”

McGuire singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch in the third, but the Colonels took control in the bottom of the fourth, sending 17 hitters to the plate. McGuire had two hits, a two-run single and an RBI double, and Bell added a three-run triple as two Sherando outfielders collided in right-center.

The Colonels had six hits and took advantage of five walks, two hit batters and three errors in the frame against Lisciandrello and reliever Tyler Whitacre.

“We competed for about 3½ innings and then the wheels fell off the cart,” Martin said. “… Carlo, I’m not using the nosebleed as an excuse, but he didn’t seem to have his normal stuff tonight. … We’ve been playing failrly decent defense, but we make errors at the most inopportune times.”

Omps, who had two walks, and McGuire both scored three times. Michael Jackson had two hits, scored twice and swiped a pair of bases.

While the Colonels have been strong in their last three outings, Pullen wants to keep the season in perspective.

“As I always say, there are three seasons,” Pullen explained. “There’s the first 10, the second 10 and then the postseason. We’re 6-1 through the first season, but we could easily be back. We’ve had some tight ballgames which we know we’re going to have to fight. We know they aren’t all going to be where you just ride the wave. Tonight was another night where we just got hot and it it was just contagious, which baseball can be.

“Things happen. That’s what we want. We want to be contagious. We want to be competitive and we want to compete every pitch.”

Bell believes he and his teammates can be a tough out for anyone, especially if the hitting continues. “If we execute, we’re going to be hard to stop all year long,” he said.

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