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Hornet Rally: Orange baseball comes back to knock off Western Albemarle

Three weeks after Western Albemarle tallied a shutout home win over Orange County, Round Two between the Jefferson District powers showcased another pitchers’ duel, this time with a seventh-inning rally thrown in for good measure in a 2-1 Orange win.

 

With 21 combined strikeouts, just one shy of the first game’s tally, this time it was Hornets’ senior Bradley Hanner leading the way with 11 strikeouts while Western’s Derek Domecq rang up 10. With his squad down 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, he also sparked the offensive rally by sending the first pitch he saw into left field.

 

“It was a fastball and I drilled it,” said Hanner, whose leadoff single was only the Hornets’ second hit of the game to that point.

 

After junior left fielder Will Dawson laid down a sacrifice, sophomore catcher Keenan Williams drove Hanner home with a hit to left. Then, senior Justin Beaty extended the threat by reaching on an error off a grounder to shortstop. With runners on the corners and one out, senior Christian Amos delivered a ball in the air to deep center.

 

“We do a lot of situational hitting in practice, and I tried to get a fastball up in the zone and do my job,” Amos said. “He threw me a fastball, waist high. I hit it good.”

 

Orange’s two seventh-inning runs off two hits spoiled a stellar performance by the Warriors’ junior lefthander Domecq. He allowed just one hit and a single walk through six innings and fanned 10.

 

“Derek pitched a heck of a game,” said Western coach Skip Hudgins. “These games come down to who makes a mistake and who gets a hit at the right time. We had all kinds of people left on base. You have no room for error if it’s 1-0. They strung together a couple of good at-bats in the seventh inning.”

 

Western grabbed the lead in the top of the first with an RBI double from Ryan Sukovich that scored Wyatt Hull after his leadoff single. The Warriors went on to outhit the Hornets 7-3 but stranded seven runners on the night. Western had a prime opportunity to plate an insurance run in the top of the seventh, as the bottom of the order put two runners on following a one-out error and infield single by pinch hitter Chase Campbell. However, Hanner escaped by inducing back-to-back grounders to second. Orange coach David Rabe promptly gathered his entire squad in front of the home dugout just before the final inning rally.

 

“We weren’t doing a good job of putting the pressure on them and their defense to make plays,” Rabe said. “Yes, [Domecq] throws hard and he’s got a lot of movement, but we got here by separating our hands and our feet and throwing our hands at the pitch. We just weren’t doing a good job of putting the ball in play. [Hanner] was doing his job, only giving up that one run early. We finally strung some decent hits together, but hats off to Domecq. It was a battle the first time we played, and it was a battle now.”

 

The win vaults Orange to 9-2 in the Jefferson District and puts the Hornets in the driver’s seat for a district title. Western now sits at 8-3 in the Jefferson while Louisa County is 7-3.

 

Orange improved to 15-2 overall on the season. The Hornets will be back in action Tuesday night when Fluvanna visits Porterfield Park for senior night. Western (12-4, 8-3) also returns home on Tuesday to host Charlottesville.

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