WINCHESTER — The James Wood High School baseball team put a near-perfect cap on a successful week against local foes on Friday night.
The Colonels picked up their 16th win of the season in convincing fashion Friday night with a dominant 11-0 Class 4 Northwestern District victory over rival Handley at Bridgeforth Stadium. The game was called after five innings due to the run rule.
Three James Wood pitchers combined to no-hit the Judges, just missing a perfect game. The only Handley base runner to reach was Peyton Nutter on a two-out walk in the second inning.
It was the latest special moment for the Colonels (16-3, 7-1 Class 4 Northwestern District). James Wood has won four games in a row — including two earlier in the week against Millbrook — and 14 of 15, and the Colonels have locked up the No. 1 North seed for the Region 4D tournament in the process.
“We put some things together tonight that we didn’t do [Thursday] night,” said Pullen, referencing James Wood’s 4-2 win over Millbrook in which the Colonels were outhit 6-4. “That’s the beauty of the game, playing every day, you get to work on things in game situations. We hit the ball well. I’m happy with the way we hit the ball hard. Even our outs were hit pretty well.
“Pitching-wise we had three guys that combined to throw it in the zone and pretty much command the game. Defense played well — we made plays when they put it in play. It was probably one of our better all-around games. We pitched it well, hit it well, and we played defense well.”
James Wood shut out the Judges (5-13, 1-6 district) for the second time this year. On Friday, Brock Whipkey, Tyler Prusik and Fletcher Powell combined to strike out 11 of the 16 Judges they faced. Whipkey went three innings for the win, allowing one walk while striking out seven. Prusik (three strikeouts) and Powell (one) each worked a 1-2-3 inning to close out the contest.
While the Judges offense was quiet, the Colonels were busy on the base paths. Wood scored their 11 runs on nine hits and were helped out by seven free passes issued by Handley pitchers. Neither team committed an error.
James Wood scored the only run it would need in the top of the first.
Shortstop Zach Woskobunik led off the game with a double to left. He moved to third on Prusik’s line out to right and scored to make it 1-0 on Logan Bower’s sacrifice fly.
In the second inning the Colonels grabbed control of the game. They batted around, sending 10 hitters to the plate. Wood scored six runs on four hits and was helped out with four walks.
Catcher Jake Woskobunik started the inning with a solid single to left and Cade Cornwell followed with a walk.
Parker Kerns made it 2-0 when he drove a double just inside the right field line, scoring courtesy runner Cole Ritter. Brady Smith walked, and Zach Woskobunik reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases.
The next four hitters all drove in a run. Prusik drew a bases-loaded walk, Owen Neal had an RBI single and Logan Bower had an RBI groundout to make it 5-0. Zach Woskobunik scored on a wild pitch for a 6-0 advantage.
Whipkey closed out the scoring in the second inning with the first of his two RBI doubles in the game, easily scoring Neal from second to make it 7-0.
Seven hitters collected at least one hit for the Colonels, including one substitute. Pinch-hitter Colin Thomas led off the third with a base hit and scored on Zach Woskobunik’s one-out triple. Prusik picked up his second RBI of the game with a groundout, scoring Woskobunik to make it 9-0.
Wood closed out the scoring with a pair of runs in the fourth for the final tally. Whipkey’s RBI double scored Bower, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Whipkey later scored on a wild pitch for the 11-0 lead.
“They pitched well, and they hit well at the plate. They just outperformed us that way,” Handley coach Patrick Wingfield said.
Earlier in the week, the Judges were swept by the score of 2-1 in both ends of a doubleheader against Skyline. Wingfield said those are the type of games the Judges need to play to have a shot at victories.
“[Our players] know when we do things the right way we give ourselves a chance to win,” Wingfield said. “We’ve got to win a low-scoring game. We’ve got to play small ball. We’ve got to work around the bases and execute the way that we should. That’s how we’re going to win ball games.”
Handley still has an outside shot at making the postseason, but it will need some help. First, the Judges need to win both of their games this coming week against Liberty and Warren County, and the Judges are 0-2 this season against the pair. Then Orange County would have to lose all four of its remaining games for the Judges to catch them.
Wood closes out its schedule with a non-district road game Monday at Warren County and then is off the rest of the week to prepare for the Region 4D tournament.