Wood baseball edges Handley

May 17, 2011

By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- If the regular season baseball finale between Northwestern District rivals James Wood and Handley is any indication, Thursday's district play-in game between the same teams will be a most entertaining contest.

Trailing by four runs early, the Colonels rallied to tie the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, then won it 7-6 without the benefit of a hit in the bottom of the 12th, completing the regular season for both teams at R. Charles Hott Field.

The game meant nothing in the district standings, with Wood assured fourth place and Handley the fifth, locking the two teams into the play-in game back at Wood Thursday. Before the game, the Colonels honored their nine seniors and their parents. All nine started and played a role in the comeback and victory.

"We just continued to fight and battle," James Wood coach Jared Mounts said. "We could have easily just folded. Hopefully this will give us something to build on, give us some momentum. Both teams competed, and neither wanted to lose."

Both had numerous opportunities to win the game in extra innings, and both were unable to come up with the key hit to end it.

As the night got later and the lightning flashed throughout the sky in the surrounding area, the Colonels got a little strike of luck in the bottom of the 12th.

With the game tied 6-6, Wood (6-12, 3-5) got its leadoff hitter on when Handley reliever Cody Unger walked Tyler Murphy. Scott Johnson then moved Murphy to second with a sacrifice bunt. A.J. Eubank laid down another bunt and beat it out for a base hit.

With the winning run just 90 feet away, the Judges elected to walk Addison Barber to load the bases and set up a force at home.

Two pitches later, the Colonels rolled the dice and had Mitchell Prelip suicide squeeze, but he came up empty and Murphy was out at the plate for the second out. It was the second time in the game Wood attempted a suicide squeeze to win, and neither was successful.

It appeared Unger was out of the inning when he struck out Prelip, but the third strike got past catcher Andrew Lins, allowing Prelip to reach base and Eubank to score the winning run.

"I was just thinking, 'I've got to get there. I've got to score,'" Eubank said. "We just knew we had to keep playing hard. We had seven innings to make it up. I was just happy [when he scored]. [Handley] played a great game. We just got lucky there at the end."

Handley (2-17, 0-8) got off to a strong start in support of starting pitcher Jake Rudolph.

Center fielder Aubrey Wilkerson led off the game with a single to left and was still at second two outs later. Rudolph got the first of several key two-out hits when he doubled to right to score Wilkerson.

Hayes followed with a walk, and Nolan Potts made it 2-0 with a single to shallow right field. Lins followed with a bunt down the third base line that he beat out for a hit, and Hayes scored to make it 3-0.

Unger extended the Judges' lead to 4-0 when he blasted a two-out fastball over the center-field fence in the second.

James Wood started chipping away with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Johnson reached first on a dropped third strike, and Mike Craig singled to shallow left. After starting pitcher Reese Alley moved them both up with a sacrifice bunt, Prelip dropped a single into short left to make it 4-2.

The Judges answered with a run in the top of the third when Lins ripped a one-out double to left that scored Hayes, who had walked to lead off the inning.

Wood cut it to 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth without picking up a hit. Craig walked to lead off the inning, and pinch-runner Eubank stole second. Alley then reached on an error and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position. One out later, Eubank scored on an RBI groundout by Garret Cunningham.

Rudolph would preserve the 5-3 lead until the Colonels rallied in the bottom of the seventh.

Prelip led off with a single but was retired when Cunningham hit into a fielder's choice. Matt Copley then reached on an error, allowing Cunningham to move all the way to third. Copley then stole second to put the tying run in scoring position.

Wilkerson made an outstanding diving catch to rob Daniel Garber and get the second out. But Tyler Dick made that a moot point when he dropped a two-run single into shallow right to tie the game.

Handley took advantage of a pair of errors to score an unearned run and regain the lead 6-5 in the top of the eighth, but a one-out RBI single by sophomore Russell Repasky in the bottom of the eighth tied the game once again.

"It was an exciting game and both teams played hard," Handley coach Eddie Simmons said. "It was two good, evenly matched teams. I see the positives, I just hope the kids see the positives. If we keep plugging away, we're gonna have success."

James Wood outhit the Judges 11-10 and was led by Cunningham, Prelip, and Eubank with two hits apiece. Prelip and Dick each had two RBIs.

Potts led the way for Handley with three hits and an RBI. Lins had two hits and two RBIs, and Rudolph had two hits and an RBI.