Gray lifts Sherando with bat and arm

April 8, 2011

By Greg Brill
Special to The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- His team may have been down a run early Thursday night, but Sherando baseball coach Pepper Martin knew he could count on a few seniors to speak up and motivate their teammates in the dugout.

One of those that chose to express his feelings was starting pitcher Chris Gray.

Gray had a whole lot to do with Sherando getting on track and rallying for a 6-3 win at R. Charles Hott Field in the Northwestern District opener for both teams.

Gray (2-0) went the distance, scattering five hits and not allowing an earned run until the seventh inning. At the plate, Gray produced out of the No. 4 slot, banging out a pair of run-scoring doubles and finishing with three hits. "Chris is one of our captains, and when James Wood took the lead, he was one of the more vocal guys in the dugout," Martin said. "He said, 'One run's not going to beat us. We're going to be fine.' Sometimes pitchers just focus on pitching. But Chris took a leadership role."

The right-hander was just recently cleared to pitch again after injuring his left shoulder playing first base in a game against Musselman (W.Va.). Gray started Monday's return matchup with the Applemen, tossing just two innings because he was on a strict pitch limit.

"The plan was to get those couple innings on Monday and to be ready for this game," Gray said. "I was hoping to throw all seven, so I met my expectations there."

Gray didn't show any signs of fatigue against James Wood, although the Colonels got their bats rolling late. By then, it was too late for James Wood to make much of a dent.

"He kept us off-balance," James Wood coach Jared Mounts said. "We don't make adjustments [at the plate]. Nothing against [Gray], but if you look at us, we'll swing the same swing with two strikes as we do with no strikes. And we'll tell them, 'Two-strike hitting, let's take a little bit off, put the bat on the ball, and make them play it.'

"Until we start making adjustments, that's what's going to happen."

The Colonels (2-6, 0-1) pushed across two runs in the seventh before Gray finished them off. Though he hit two batters, Gray walked just one, had just one error behind him, and he threw 53 of 82 pitches for strikes.

"Chris, tonight, I mean, that was a heck of a pitching performance," Martin said. "He didn't prevent James Wood from hitting the ball, but he prevented them from hitting the ball hard. He relied on his defense to make plays behind him, and we did that."

The Colonels plated an unearned run in the second to take a 1-0 lead. Garret Cunningham led off with a single to left, stole second, and moved to third when the throw from the catcher sailed into the outfield. Daniel Garber's sacrifice fly then gave James Wood the lead.

By the time James Wood had its next baserunner, Sherando (5-3, 1-0) held a 4-1 lead.

The Warriors tied the game on Carter Simmers' RBI double in the fourth. But Sherando missed getting two runs on the hit when Logan Bucher lost his balance and fell coming around third.

Bucher got back to third safely, but James Wood starter Matt Copley (4 innings, six hits, two earned runs, one walk, three strikeouts) struck out Taylor Loudan to end the inning with two runners stranded in scoring position.

In the next inning, Sherando's Dominique Porter (1 for 3) was hit by a pitch leading off and stole second. A ground out moved Porter to third, and Tre Porter - playing just his second game since returning from a knee injury suffered in basketball - drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch.

With runners on the corners, Martin sent Tre Porter (1 for 3, two runs scored) in motion on a delayed double steal. The Colonels cut off the throw and sent it back home. Tyler Dick had the ball in time to tag Domininque Porter, but he dropped the ball after Porter slid in.

"To get a run back the very next inning after we had a potential run [not score], that is big," Martin said. "[Bucher's] was a run we should have had and Dominique's run is probably a run we shouldn't have had.

"We were fortunate. Both pitchers were locked in a pitcher's duel. The difference was we were able to get some guys on and get key hits."

Gray then doubled off Copley (1-2) to drive in Tre Porter, and James Wood brought on left-hander Addison Barber in relief. After Barber fanned Tyler Quinn for the second out, Brandon Fletcher singled to left to drive in courtesy runner Brady Cook (two runs scored) and make it 4-1.

"It was all mental. We just needed to stay back on the ball and crush it," Gray said of the Warriors' approach at the plate, which resulted in 10 hits. "I think that's what we did the second time around [against Copley]."

The Warriors' final two runs came in the seventh when Gray hit his second RBI double and Fletcher (3 for 4) got his second RBI on a two-out base hit to drive in Cook.

With the return of Tre Porter to the No. 3 slot and a few other shakeups in the batting order, Martin dropped the left-handed hitting Fletcher down four spots to No. 6 to help him relax at the plate.

"Brandon's a pure hitter," Martin said. "We felt moving him down to the sixth slot that all he needed to do was see the ball and hit it."

The Colonels got two late runs on a Frank Minor RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Tyler Murphy.