Warriors out-duel Colonels

By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star

Stephens City — Coming off an uninspired win over Clarke County Wednesday night, Sherando High School baseball coach Pepper Martin was searching for some indication that his team was ready for its Northwestern District opener against James Wood Friday night.

What Martin got was a career performance from senior pitcher Zach Carney.

The lefthander tosses a complete game gem, leading the Warriors to a 3-0 victory over the visiting Colonels. It was Sherando’s fifth straight win.

“Zach was in a zone,” Martin said. “He had great command of the strike zone. He changed speeds and locations. He threw all three pitches for strikes and, where he wanted to, he threw some money pitches. This was a classic high school pitchers’ duel.”

Things didn’t start out well for the Warriors. The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes because of problems getting all the stadium lights on, and during the delay Sherando leftfielder Dominque Porter sprained his ankle and had to be scratched from the lineup.

But once Carney toed the mound, all negative thoughts were forgotten.

Carney (1-0) allowed only three hits and one walk while striking out a career high 12 hitters. He was perfect through three innings and retired the Colonels in order four of the seven innings.

“This was my first district start, and I knew I had to come out strong,” Carney said. “I got off to a good start, but I knew I couldn’t take that for granted. I had to keep focused and pitch my pitch.”

As in all duels, there had to be a second participant, and Wood’s Matt Copley did his part. Copley (1-3) also went the distance, allowing just three runs (two earned). He scattered five hits, walked three and struck out seven. “Matt Copley pitched well enough to win,” Martin said. “He gave them a quality start and he battled. The difference in the game is we had a few more base runners and we were able to execute. We were able to get them on, get them over, and get them in. In games like this, you have to take every opportunity to manufacture runs.”

Sherando (7-1, 1-0 Northwestern) scored a run in the bottom of the first on just one hit. Brogan Hoover led off with a sharp single up the middle and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob Carney.

Hoover score thanks to a pair of passed balls on consecutive pitches.

After retiring the first nine hitters he faced, Zach Carney got into his only jam of the night in the Colonels’ half of the fourth.

James Wood (1-6, 0-1) put the first two runners on when Drew Burnett led off with a walk and Brock Lockhart singled.

With the tying and go-ahead runs on base, Copley sacrificed both runners into scoring position, but Carney got out of the inning by striking out Cody Vorous and getting Tyler Dick to ground out.

“This was a well-played game,” James Wood coach Jared Mounts said. “All in all, it wasn’t bad. We didn’t make any adjustments at the plate, but you have to give [Carney] credit, he did a good job and he painted that outside corner. You have to give Sherando credit, they came out and did what they needed to do.

“We’re not where we need to be, but we’re making strides.”

The Warriors added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings to give Carney some much needed breathing room.

In the fifth, Brandon Fletcher (Porter’s last-minute replacement) led off with a single and moved to second on Hoover’s sacrifice bunt. Jacob Carney followed that with a single to shallow left to make it 2-0.

With one out in the sixth, Zach Carney walked and courtesy runner Carter Simmers moved to third on a single by Erik Albers. Simmers scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Chris Gray.

James Wood got a leadoff single from Alan Geske in the sixth and a one-out pinch-hit single by Daniel Garber in the seventh, but the Colonels were unable to do anything with either runner.

“James Wood’s always gonna be there. It doesn’t matter what the record is, they’re always gonna play a close game,” Zach Carney said. “This is a good win for us.”