If you've been reading our blog for a while, then you know we LOVE baseball here in Vienna! And this week is playoff week for high school baseball all around our Northern Region. The number of teams competing for a spot to represent our region in the state playoffs has now been narrowed down to 4 teams. And our very own Madison High School Warhawks are one of those teams. Last night was an exciting game. Don't worry if you missed it because we have a fabulous recap from "Guest Blogger" Dave Graham below! AND it's not too late to see the team play. Their next game is at 7PM at Robinson High School against the South County Stallions. Good luck Warhawks!
______________________________________RUNS HITS ERRORS
YORKTOWN 8 8 1
MADISON 11 12 2
On a hot and somewhat humid Memorial Day at Lake Braddock, the fans were kept cool by a fairly steady light breeze supplemented by some heavy gusts generated by some hefty hacks from both teams as Yorktown and Madison locked up in a see saw slugfest. The Warhawks grabbed an early 2-0 lead after one inning but by the third the Patriots had taken a 7-3 lead. Madison rallied in the fifth to regain the lead at 8-7 but Yorktown tied it in the top of the sixth on Ryan Dowdell’s second home run of the game. Jay Kenyon and Jonny Graham responded by jacking homers in the sixth to produce the final 11-8 margin of victory for Madison. Mark “Pudge” Gjormand later noted, “It was a hot day and it was easy to get a little agitated out there. We made some mistakes early but give Yorktown credit for applying pressure. We were frustrated but didn’t lose our composure and did a great job of battling back. I was very impressed with the Yorktown team; I knew Coach Ruck would have them ready to play.”
Tim Davis drew the starting assignment for Madison. James Overbeek led off by beating out a high chopper to second for a base hit. Two pitches later, Davis induced a room service grounder to short and Andy McGuire, Nate Favero and Graham dialed up a 6-4-3 twin killing. That loomed large when Shaun Wood and Brooks Valtin drew back to back walks on full count pitches. The inning ended with Davis winning an eight pitch battle to get a swinging K.
Daniel Whitaker, a senior lefty, got the starting nod for Yorktown. Alex Tyroler led off by fouling off three two strike pitches before walking on the ninth pitch. He advanced to second on a balk and after a pair of fly outs scored when Kenyon stroked a single to left. Justin Nicholls entered as a courtesy runner and took third when future Texas Longhorn McGuire dropped a Texas league single into center. McGuire took second uncontested and Graham reached base when a breaking ball plunked him in the posterior. Joe Corrigan walked to drive in the second run of the inning but Madison left the bases full on a force out.
In the Patriot second, after a lead off strike out Tyler Wykoff whacked an 0-2 pitch into the gap in right for a double. As David Bernhardt was walking on four pitches Wykoff took third on a passed ball. As Davis was in the process of getting the second out on a backwards K Bernhardt stole second. Both runners scored on a muffed ground ball and then the left hand hitting Dowdell launched one over the centerfield fence for a two run tater. After another muffed grounder the side was retired on a force play but the four unearned runs had given Yorktown a 4-2 lead.
Justin Padgett led off the bottom of the second with a line single to left. Tyroler sacrificed him to second and Ben Socher hit a soft one hopper that first baseman Wood made a nice play to backhand and then made a diving attempt to tag Socher. The base ump initially ruled Socher safe but after a brief huddle the umps reversed the call. Padgett had hustled to third on the play and scored when Favero dumped a single into right. The inning ended with Kenyon lining out to left and Yorktown up 4-3.
With one out in the top of the third, William Young worked a base on balls on a full count offering. Wykoff inside outted a single to right and Bernhardt grounded a single through the hole just under the shortstop’s glove to bring in Young. Nick Cantow sacrificed the runners to second and third. Overbeek beat out a slow roller to third on a bang bang play to score Wykoff and when the first baseman looked at the base ump for the call Bernhardt kept rolling around third and scored as well. A fly ball ended the inning on Davis’ 84th pitch with Yorktown ahead 7-3.
Whitaker found a groove in the third and retired Madison in order on seven pitches.
Dan Powers came in to pitch for the Warhawks in the fourth. Tyroler made a long run to flag down a deep drive to right center for the first out. Whitaker hit a pop fly double to shallow center with two outs but Powers retired the side on another pop fly.
Whitaker again retired the side 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth but Tyroler taxed him by fouling off four two strike pitches before finally succumbing to a ten pitch strike out. Tyroler may have lost the battle but he set the stage for winning the war by driving the pitch count to 72 on a day when the temperature was in the nineties and the heat index was around the century mark.
Southpaw Eli Facenda took over on the mound for Madison in the top of the fifth and retired the side in order ending the inning with the batter flailing at a breaking ball in the dirt with Kenyon blocking the ball then firing it to first for the out.
Socher beat out a bunt to lead off the bottom of the fifth as the third baseman double clutched on the throw. On a 1-0 count Favero jumped on a high fastball and tomahawked a missile down the right field line for a double with Socher speeding home all the way from first. That concluded Whitaker’s afternoon of pitching as Yorktown brought in Overbeek to pitch.
Kenyon reached by wearing a breaking ball in the back and again Nicholls entered as a courtesy runner. Both runners worked a double steal as the Patriots almost nailed the trailing runner. McGuire drove in a pair of runs with a worm burner through the left side and Graham’s pop fly fell just in front of the centerfielder’s diving attempt for a double to put runners on second and third. Corrigan fouled off a pair of two strike pitches before smacking an RBI single to right on a full count pitch. Again the Patriots switched pitchers bringing in Nate Brown.
The Warhawks countered with pinch hitter Matt Livingston. With runners at the corners, Corrigan took second on defensive indifference. Livingston plated Graham with a run scoring fly ball to left. Padgett sacrificed Corrigan to third and was safe at first when the throw pulled the first baseman off the bag. Catcher Dowdell gunned down the runner trying to steal second with a nice throw to second baseman Valtin covering. Tyroler gave new meaning to the term scappy when he was hit with consecutive pitches. First he stood statuesque as a 2-2 breaking ball hit him on the forearm. Without hesitation, the plate ump ruled it a ball and ordered Tyroler back into the box. He reached base anyway on the next pitch when he was plunked in the back. The inning ended on a pop fly to short left but Madison had sent ten men to the plate to score five runs and take an 8-7 lead.
With one out in the sixth Dowdell hammered a monstrous blast over the scoreboard in right center. Shortstop McGuire made a fine play charging a check swing bouncer and gunning on the run to get the second out at first. A pop out to first retired the side on five pitches with the score knotted at eight apiece.
Favero led off the bottom of the sixth dropping a pop fly single into shallow center. Two pitches later Kenyon lit the fuse on a rocket over the left field fence for a two run blast. The Patriots brought in sophomore ace John Yoest to pitch. After a ground out Graham went yard the other way lobbing a mortar shot to left for a solo HR. Corrigan walked but the inning ended on a strike out and a force out with Madison leading 11-8.
CJ Herod pinch hit to lead off the top of the seventh and drew a walk. On a 1-1 pitch Young drilled one that the 6-4 Favero pulled down at second and tossed to first for a rally killing double play. The game ended on a comebacker.
Coach Gjormand summed it up by saying, “Tim wasn’t at his best and we didn’t support him well but he did a great job of battling through the heat. Dan and Eli were really good and kept us in the game. Ben’s bunt leading off the fifth and Nate’s double gave us the spark we needed at that point but Yorktown never quit. Jay and Jonny’s home runs were big and the double play we got in the seventh was huge.”
History repeated itself as last year the Warhawks also won behind Facenda on Memorial Day to advance to the Northern Region semifinals. The victory sets up a déjà vu all over again experience as for the second year in a row Madison will face a powerhouse team from the Patriot District. Last year they lost to eventual State champion West Springfield and this year they will face undefeated South County, the prohibitive favorite to capture the 2011 crown. The Stallions bring a sparkling 24-0 mark into the game having just trounced a very good Westfield team.
Gjormand, who coached the Warhawks to a 29-0 record in winning the State title in 2002, observed that, “It’s an understatement to say that we will have our hands full with South County. I know how hard it is for a team to go undefeated. For them to do it in the Patriot District makes it that much more impressive. Today’s game took a lot out of us physically and mentally and it will be interesting to see how we respond to the biggest challenge we’ve faced this year. We will regroup and do what we do; we are a small school in a small town trying to get our story written.”
The game will be played Wednesday at 7:00 at Robinson. The winner will play the winner of the game between Stone Bridge and Lake Braddock that will be played beforehand. Interestingly, both semifinal games match teams from the Liberty and Patriot Districts. The Northern Region final game is slated for Friday at 7:00 at Madison. Both participants in that game will advance to the State championship tournament.
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