By Robert Stocks
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Most teams don’t practice following a varsity baseball game, but that’s exactly what James Wood coach Jared Mounts had his team doing after the Colonels committed five errors that led to seven unearned runs Tuesday night.

Getting 21 outs against Washington (W.Va.) proved to be more difficult than it should have been, so the Colonels took more fielding practice after the 8-4 non-district loss to the Patriots at R. Charles Hott Field.

“I don’t care who you’re playing if you cannot handle the baseball and you have seven unearned runs ...” Mounts said. “We’re not making the routine play, and until we can start making the routine play we’ll continue to drop baseball games.”

The Patriots (2-4) took command with six unearned runs in the first two innings. Four of those came with two outs in the second inning.

James Wood (1-3) third baseman Cooper Franks and shortstop Matt Copley collided on a routine pop-up by Washington leadoff hitter Doug Perry, allowing Chris Saunders to score on the error. After a single by Logan Johnson, Colonels right fielder Alan Gleske dropped a fly ball by Trey Fields, allowing Perry and Johnson to score to put the Patriots ahead 5-0.

 

Austin Larcomb followed with an RBI single off James Wood starter Cody Vorous (0-1), who allowed six runs (none earned) and three hits through two innings.

The Patriots added another run after Saunders’ RBI single off Franks in the fifth.

The six unearned runs proved to be more than enough for Washington starter Robert Reynolds, who took a no-hitter into the fifth inning.

Reynolds (2-0) wasn’t overpowering but located his pitches well and kept the Colonel hitters off balance before running into some trouble with one out in the top of the fifth.

James Wood’s Niko Bobadilla singled up the middle to end Reynolds’ no-hit bid. An out later, Gleske singled and leadoff hitter Andrew Burnett followed with a bases-clearing double to right-center to cut the deficit to 7-2.

The Colonels made three of their five errors in the first two innings but committed two more in the sixth that allowed Perry to score on a ground out by Fields.

Facing an 8-2 deficit, James Wood put together its biggest threat in the sixth.

Tyler Dick’s RBI single scored Brock Lockhart (who reached on an error). Reynolds’ night ended after A.J. Eubank reached on a passed ball third strike and Bobadilla walked.

Patriots reliever Sam Wilson entered with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth.

Inheriting a 2-0 count, Wilson ran the count full before walking Scott Johnson.

Gleske followed, and so did a little controversy.

With a 1-2 count, Gleske was initially awarded first after being hit by a pitch, but the umpires ruled the ball hit the ground before striking Gleske’s foot. With the run taken off the board, Wilson struck out Gleske and then got Burnett to ground out to second to end the inning.

Wilson retired the Colonels in order in the seventh. Reynolds allowed five hits, four runs and struck out eight in 51/3 innings to get the victory.

“The other team was just more focused than us and we just weren’t ready to play,” Burnett said. “[Reynolds] had like a slider and we just weren’t used to seeing him.”

After Mounts spoke to his team in the dugout following the game, the Colonels hit the field for a drill called “21 outs.” The Colonels’ fielders had to complete 21 consecutive fielding plays without making an error or the team started back at zero.

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