It’s early, but Fluvanna County baseball is taking the correct first steps to meet some lofty expectations they’ve set for themselves this year.
The Flucos rolled 8-1 past Monticello Tuesday night in both squads’ Jefferson District opener, with a trio of pitchers combining for a two-hit, two-walk, 16-strikeout effort.
Kevin Ward led the way in that department with 10 strikeouts in four innings of work and Toby Sherman came in to strikeout four over two innings before Wyatt Dansey struck out two to close it out in the seventh.
Monticello’s lone run was unearned, with Dylan Zimmerman scoring in the sixth
Meanwhile, the Flucos’ bats were doing enough damage to make that pitching effort stand up. Fluvanna built a 4-0 lead over the first two innings and led 7-0 at the end the of the fourth.
Jacob Critzer got the scoring started with a double in the first that scored Ryan Groome who had a leadoff triple to start the game. Things really opened up with two outs in the second though, with Kyle Algieri stealing home, opening the door for Critzer to hit another double and drive in Mason Gross and Groome to make it 4-0 Flucos.
In the third, Cameron Shields scored on a Trey Lyons single and in the fourth Kevin Ward hit a two-RBI double to push the lead to 7-0.
Critzer finished the night with a 3-for-4 effort with four RBI. He hit a pair of doubles. Groome scored three runs from the leadoff spot. Mason Gross and Drew Pace each swiped bases and Gross finished 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored.
Zimmerman and Luke Ogden were solid in relief for the Mustangs holding Fluvanna to just one run and two hits over the last 2.1 innings.
The Flucos travel to take on Orange County Thursday night while Monticello looks to bounce back at home against Albemarle.
