Wood wins home opener

By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — After failing to find the win column through their first two games of the season, the James Wood High School baseball team had to be rethinking the opponent for their home opener.

The Colonels — whose offensive struggles had caused some early concerns — welcomed in long-time West Virginia power Jefferson and legendary coach John Lowery.

But it was Wood that played like a perennial power Wednesday night, and behind the stellar pitching of junior ace Matt Copley, the Colonels picked up a confidence-building 7-6 non-district win over the Cougars at R. Charles Hott Field.

“[Lowery] has got more state championships then I have coaching experience,” James Wood coach Jared Mounts said of the skipper who will lead the Winchester Royals this summer. “This [win] was huge. Lowery, and Jefferson are known throughout West Virginia. It’s a very good program. This is great for the team.” Copley (1-1) kept the Cougars off balanced all night long. He worked six innings, allowing three runs on just two hits, walking two and striking out seven.

Copley had a perfect game through three innings and a no hitter through four. He didn’t allow a base runner until pinch hitter Brett Heller led off the fourth by reaching on a dropped third strike.

“Matt did a great job. He went out and battled and got ahead of hitters,” Mounts said. “We got run support for him tonight, which we haven’t been doing.”

With Copley cruising through the early innings, his teammates gave him a lead to work with.

Senior catcher Cody Vorous led off the second inning by ripping a first-pitch fastball over the center field fence for a 1-0 lead.

“That really lifted us up,” Copley said of the homer. “We were down, but that really got our emotions up and we started hitting the ball. I knew they were a good team and [had] a real good coach. We just worked as a team to get our first win. This win means a lot to us, and it’s a really good start for us.”

James Wood (1-2) added a gift run in the second inning. With one out, Mitchell Prelip singled and moved to second on a passed ball. He advanced to third when Cougars pitcher Tanner Everton tried to pick him off and threw wildly into center field.

Trailing by a run, the Cougars chose to bring the infield in, and it appeared to work when Andrew Burnett grounded out to third. But when Burnett ran through first base, he collided with first baseman Seth Wight. Though Wight had already recorded the out, he dropped the ball, allowing Prelip to score the second run.

Jefferson (2-2) got a run back in the fourth without the benefit of a hit. Heller reached on the dropped third strike. He advanced around the bases on fly ball and a pair of errors.

Three more runs in the bottom of the fourth pushed the Colonels’ lead to 5-1. Brock Lockhart led off with a double, and Vorous followed with a walk. After a fly out from Daniel Garber, an A.J. Eubank infield single by made it 3-1.

Another errant pickoff throw by Everton allowed courtesy runner Alan Gleske to score, and Eubank would eventually score to make it on Niko Bobadilla’s RBI double.

“That [lead was] huge, especially the way we’ve been playing,” Mounts said. “We’ve not been producing any offense. It’s nice to have those leads. It’s not over till it’s over.”

And this one was far from over. The Cougars loaded the bases in the fifth with no outs and scored a run when Heller walked. But a bizarre double play on a shallow infield bloop by Cody Johnson got the Colonels out of serious trouble. Though another run scored on the play to make it 5-3, Copley was able to retire the next hitter and end the threat.

Garber got those two runs back for Wood in the bottom of the fifth with a clutch two-out, two-run single to center that scored courtesy runners Scott Johnson and Gleske and made it 7-3.

With Copley’s night done, the Cougars staged a seventh inning rally on the Colonels bullpen. Junior Mike Craig entered the game and was greeted with all kinds of trouble.

Jefferson’s J.P. Jones led off with a single, followed by a walk to Jake Sites.

It looked as if Craig had settled down, but back-to-back walks produced another run and ended his night.

With the score now 7-4, the Colonels turned to senior Brock Lockhart. Lockhart walked the first hitter he faced and hit the second, making the score 7-6.

With the bases still loaded and the game on the line, Lockhart worked out of the jam by striking out Everton on a full count fastball, allowing the home crowd to breathe a sigh of relief.

“We had our chances. We had a chance to win right up to the end of the ball game,” Lowery said. “But with all that said, we made too many mistakes. We didn’t handle the ball well. We had runners from the fourth inning on but just couldn’t get that one hit. We need to start earlier in the game. You never know what pitch in the game might be the difference maker.”

Wood outhit the Cougars 8-3, including four doubles and the home run. Bobadilla led the way, finishing 2 for 3 with two doubles and an RBI. Six other Colonels had one hit, and Gleske scored two runs.

Jones led the Cougars, finishing 2 for 3 with two runs scored.