By Liz Keller / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
After getting blown out at home in its season-opener against Goochland, the Louisa County baseball team was not about to let the Bulldogs complete the sweep.
The visiting Lions found the perfect combination of stellar pitching, timely hits and solid defense as they prevailed 3-2 over their rivals and won their fifth straight Jefferson District game.
“I think the first game of the year, opening up with them, was about as bad as we could have played,” said Louisa coach Kevin Fisher. “We’ve gotten better as the year has gone on. That was our goal after starting out the way that we did, and we’ve done that so far. Everyone was focused and everyone wanted to win, and that’s changed for us the last few weeks.”
Both starting pitchers came out poised as the game was scoreless through the first four innings. In fact, Goochland starter Wes McGuire retired the first 11 batters he faced before Dylan Wratchford ripped a single into left field in the fourth inning.
Louisa’s Josh Seay gave up a pair of singles in the fourth inning, but the defense was solid behind him and helped the junior right-hander get out of the inning unscathed. Third baseman Robert Terrell chased down a popup out of bounds to get the first out before Seay recorded a strikeout and Jess McLaughlin hit a short chopper to first baseman Tyler Lloyd to end the inning.
Louisa’s bats came to life in the fifth as Jarrett Talley belted the ball deep to right-center field to score Jacob Conley, who got on base after being hit by a pitch. After some miscommunication in the outfield, Talley reached third. No. 8 batter Josh Carter hit a sacrifice fly to center to get Talley across the plate safely.
Seay helped himself out at the plate, highlighting the sixth inning with a solo homer that cleared the right-center field fence and gave the Lions a 3-0 lead.
Louisa’s defense came up with some big plays in the sixth to keep the Bulldogs at bay. Chase Brookman hit a ball up the middle, which tipped off Seay’s glove before shortstop Christian Buckler fielded it cleanly for the out. Alex McDowell grounded out to shortstop and then Buckler made another nifty play – catching a popup and flipping backward in the process to hang on for the final out.
Things began to unravel for the Lions in the seventh, and Goochland rallied with the help of a few miscues in the infield. Trevor Hartley scored on a sacrifice fly from Cody Johnson, while McLaughlin crossed the plate after an error.
But Seay remained calm under pressure and recorded a strikeout to get out of the jam.
“We made some bad [errors]. But [Josh Seay] has been pitching with a lot of heart out there and he really carried us again tonight,” Fisher said. “Josh is a real cool customer. It takes a lot to get to him. With the bases loaded there, I went and talked to him and I said, ‘look, we can give up two and we’re good.’ And he wasn’t fazed by it at all.”
The Bulldogs faced the same struggle they’ve had all season – getting runs across the plate. Goochland stranded nine runners on the night. Scott Ragland was the lone batter with multiple hits (double, single).
“All of our games have been within one or two runs, and our pitching is keeping us in it,” Goochland coach Wes Farkas said. “We’re getting great starts from pitchers, we’re just not getting run support. We’re getting them on base, which is the most frustrating thing.”
The Bulldogs look to bounce back in their regular-season finale on Tuesday against league leader William Monroe, which has already clinched the district title.
Louisa plays host to Monticello Tuesday in its final game of the regular season.
