By David Selig
The Winchester Star

Winchester — Casey Fauver admits he probably pushed himself a little too hard, too fast when working to come back from the knee injury he suffered at the end of football season.

But those extra swings the Millbrook senior took during his rehab are sure paying off now.

In just his third game back in the lineup, Fauver crushed two home runs — including one of two sixth-inning grand slams — in the Pioneers’ 19-8 rout of James Wood Friday night at R. Charles Hott Field. “A lot of times I worked, I think, when I wasn’t supposed to,” Fauver said. “A little early. A little premature. But I think it helped in the long run.” Fauver made a speedy recovery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and part of the meniscus in his left knee while making a tackle Nov. 6 at Sherando.

But while his doctor allowed Fauver to join the baseball team for practices at the start of the season, he still hadn’t been cleared to play until last week.

After going 2 for 8 with a double in his first two games back, the left fielder busted out Friday.

He singled and scored as part of Millbrook’s four-run top of the first inning.

He led off the fifth with a solo home run to left-center, extending the Pioneers’ lead to 10-4.

Then, in the sixth, he crushed the grand slam to left-center, where the wind had been blowing out, to make the score 14-4.

“I was kind of skeptical coming into the season, because I hadn’t played since last season,” said Fauver, who hit .344 a year ago. “I didn’t play any fall ball, any summer ball, so it feels good to be seeing the ball like I am and hitting it.”

And in doing so, Fauver has been making the entire lineup better.

Having Fauver back in the No. 2 hole has allowed the Pioneers to slide catcher Ethan Mathews to the third spot in the order and plant first baseman Mike Dillow at cleanup.

In the those three games since he’s been back, Millbrook (4-4, 2-1 Northwestern District) has averaged 16 runs per game.

“Early on in the season we missed him in the two-hole,” coach Mike Smith said. “He comes right in and doesn’t miss a beat. I mean, you can see that he’s obviously coming back from an injury, but if he can produce like that from the two-hole, then we’re sitting pretty good.”

Things were going so well for Smith Friday that even his few managerial moves seemed to carry a stroke of genius.

With the bases loaded again later in the sixth inning, Smith came over from his spot in the third-base coaching box to call on Jeremiah Eaton to pinch hit for Tyler Hargrove.

Eaton — a 6-foot-4, 200-pound sophomore — crushed another grand slam to a similar spot in left-center, increasing the lead to 19-4.

“He comes in and hits like that in practice all the time,” Smith said of Eaton. “But right now I don’t have a place for him. ... I thought that was a good situation right there. A little jet stream action going. He gets one up in the air ... I don’t know if it was a great coaching move, but I thought it was time for him to get an at-bat.”

The fact that Smith doesn’t have a spot for a bat like that in his lineup is telling of how much his team has grown.

A year ago, James Wood routed Millbrook 14-4 on the same field. This time around, the Pioneers were the ones jogging off with a six-inning mercy-rule victory, while the Colonels (1-8, 0-2) are suffering through growing pains with several young players in the lineup.

“Last year, [Millbrook] brought up some young kids. You know, every dog has its day, and right now they’re reaping the benefit of that move and that decision with young kids having experience,” James Wood coach Jared Mounts said. “I think we’re a young team, similar to the way they were last year. Give them credit. Coach [Smith] is doing a good job with them, and the kids are responding and they’re playing with a lot of passion.”

The Colonels made a push to get back in the game in the bottom of the first, when Brock Lockhart ripped an RBI double and Cody Vorous slammed a two-run homer to left-center to make it 4-3.

But Millbrook came back with three more runs in the top of the second with RBIs from Dillow, Cody Houtz and Colin Ryan.

After Vorous’ third-inning RBI double pulled the Colonels back to within three at 7-4, Brady Baker hit a two-run double to answer in the top of the fourth, chasing Wood starter Matt Copley (1-4).

Baker (3-0), the Pioneers’ ace, battled into the sixth, surrendering seven runs (five earned) on eight hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

Hargrove got the last out, although it didn’t come easily thanks to two walks and two errors.

Still, the Pioneers had returned the favor with a blowout over their Frederick County rivals, and with a winning record in the district and Casey (Fauver) at the bat, it’s a far different mood around the Millbrook baseball team this spring.

“I feel good about the team this year,” Fauver said. “I feel really good. We’ve got a lot more unity than we’ve ever had since I’ve been here on the varsity squad.”

Fauver finished 3 for 5 with five RBIs and three runs scored. Mathews was 3 for 3, Dillow was 2 for 5 and scored three times, and Adam Jackson went 2 for 2 with three runs.

Ryan went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI, despite representing the only spot in the Pioneers’ order not to score in the nine-run sixth.

Vorous went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and a run, and Lockhart was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs to lead James Wood.