Joey Varaksa had been on a tear, and he wasn’t about to change anything.
“We didn’t take batting practice for two games and he was 5 for 6 (against Stafford),” said Albemarle coach Carroll Bickers. “I said ‘Joey do you want take batting practice tomorrow?’ and he said ‘Naw, I don’t want no batting practice.’”
Varaksa kept it going Friday night with a solid offensive performance in Albemarle’s 2-1 victory over Riverbend. He also came in as a reliever and played a little defense too.
Varaksa, Albemarle’s leadoff man, went 2 for 3 on the night, coming up with two of only five hits that Riverbend’s Nate Traugh allowed on the night by the Patriots. Varaksa’s single in the second inning scored the Patriots’ only two runs, and with Jason White on the mound that was all Albemarle needed.
“I’m just seeing the ball really well,” Varaksa said. “This year it kind of took off — I’ve come in with the mentality that no pitcher can strike me out and it’s working for me.”
White went six innings and put two runners on in the seventh before giving way to Varaksa, who allowed one of the inherited runners to score but snuffed out any real rally by Riverbend to secure the 2-1 win. The work earned Varaksa a save.
While White was pitching, Varaksa, who started the season in the outfield, manned shortstop, which shifted Josh Sites to third base. That gives the Patriots a formidable left side of the infield that’s making it tough on opponents. Albemarle didn’t have a single error against the Bears Friday, a big change from early in the season.
“It just worked out really well,” Varaksa said. “(Sites) made some great throws and great plays today. It really helped out a lot today.”
The Patriots were snakebitten by errors early in the Commonwealth. Albemarle lost four district games by five total runs and if one error is removed from the equation in each game, the Patriots could have been 5-1 versus their current 2-4 CD record.
Jay Schwab went 1 for 2 and scored a run for the Patriots.
