By Aaron Perryman/Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
The Albemarle Post 74 baseball team led Lynchburg Post 16 in a tight, 6-5 ball game when lightning forced the umpires to suspend the contest with two outs in the bottom of the sixth in American Legion action Wednesday night at Albemarle High.
Albemarle took the one-run lead when Joey Varaksa plated Eli Haden with an RBI-single. Haden had reached second following a monster blast off the top of the fence in left center field.
Lynchburg took the initial lead of the game in the first inning with an RBI-single by Will Sly, but Albemarle quickly responded with five runs in its own half of the first on six hits. Varaksa, Charlie Murray, Josh Sites and Travis Warren all picked up RBIs in the big inning.
“We came out aggressive, scored some runs and hit the ball really hard in the first inning and then our bats went slow until Eli hit that last one off the fence,” said Albemarle coach Mike Maynard. “He destroyed that ball.”
Sly struck again in the second with a two-RBI single, helping Lynchburg chip into the lead. In the top of the fifth, Lynchburg tied the contest with RBIs by designated hitter Dylan Philips and second baseman Will Parsons.
Pitchers Andrew Calas, Jake Hendrix and Geren Steljes combined their efforts on the mound for Albemarle, striking out four while giving up 11 hits and issuing three walks.
“Both of us were able to pitch some younger kids that hadn’t pitched in awhile,” Maynard said, noting that the non-district matchup allowed the teams to experiment with their lineups.
Altavista High’s Rick Adams started on the mound for Lynchburg and after a rough first inning, settled in and was solid, striking out five in four innings of work, and managed to hold Albemarle scoreless after the first inning.
“It took him a while to get use to this hitting — he’s a single-A guy,” said Lynchburg coach Chris Glaize. “Everything that’s up in the zone in this league gets hammered. He had to learn that the hard way because he wasn’t expecting that. He made a couple comments about that on the mound visits. But he adjusted and the three innings after that he was fine. He got in a little rhythm and groove and threw strikes, hit spots.”
Varaksa finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs for Albemarle. Vince Coles, who has been smashing the ball since Legion play began two weeks ago, did not tally an RBI but went 2-for-4 with two doubles. The former Albemarle High star just completed his first year playing baseball for Louisburg College in North Carolina.
“[Coles is] the heart and soul of this team, along with Rashad Talley,” Maynard said. “Vince is a great outfielder with great speed… he’s 15 for 16 on stolen bases. He’s a quiet kid — he lets his game speak for itself. He’s always the first one here, he asks for more batting practice, he just loves baseball.”
Because the game had passed the halfway mark, Albemarle picked up the win, improving its record to 8-0.
Thursday, Albemarle faces King George at the Virginia Sports Complex in Ruther Glen at 7 p.m.
