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Albemarle tops Orange in walkoff fashion

In his first encounter with Derek Justice, things didn’t go Eli Haden’s way. Then playing for Charlottesville earlier this spring while Justice was pitching for Orange County, the Virginia commit retired the Black Knight sophomore in every at bat. However, the second meeting went an awful lot better for Haden. With Albemarle Post 74 tied with Orange Post 156 in the bottom of the ninth and a runner on second, Haden, hitting at the top of the order, came up with the winning hit as Jake Hendrix worked his way home on a single through the infield to wrap up the game, 6-5.

“I wanted to get this game over with,” Haden said of the timely hit. “I didn’t want any extra innings.”

When it was all said and done with, Haden finished the game 3 for 3 with two walks to go with his trio of singles.

Albemarle got off to an early start as while Jason White was in command on the mound as his defense came up with play after play. Offensively, Thomas Stallings broke open the scoring in the second inning with a solo-shot and in the following inning, Albemarle tagged Orange with three unearned runs with two outs to take a 4-1 lead.

Rashad Talley inflated the margin to four runs on a solo-blast in the fifth. But Albemarle’s offense went quiet after that as Justice worked through the next three innings with relative ease.

“Justice threw just a great baseball game,” said Albemarle coach Mike Maynard. “I didn’t know if he was ever going to come out (of the game), he had to have thrown around 140 pitches. It was amazing. He kept us off balance and he’s got velocity.”

The Orange pitcher drove in his team’s first run in the top of the  third on an RBI single. He also scored his team’s second run after reaching base on a single, stealing second, tagging to take third and finally crossing home plate on an error to make it a 3-run game in the top of the sixth.

Orange continued to mount its comeback in the seventh when Colston Bayliss went yard to centerfield to trim the deficit to two. Justice then lead off the top of the eighth with a double before scoring, and after reaching base on an error, Trevor Funk tied the game at 5 as he worked his way around the base path.

Were it not for the Albemarle outfield, Orange would have earned at least two more runs, but Rashad Talley, after making a diving play in shallow center three innings earlier, made another athletic play at the warning track to pick up the third out in the top of the eighth. However, it came at a cost as fell into the centerfield fence and came away with a gash on his head to take him out of the contest.

“Rashad, with the homerun and unbelievable catches, I just love that kid,” Maynard said. “Well, coaches aren’t supposed to love one guy or have favorites, but he’s up there.”

Lozero Torres, Orange’s strong-armed catcher, was an equalizer to Talley as he kept Albemarle from making hay on the base paths throughout, throwing out a pair of runners.

“We’re a fast team,” Maynard said. “But Torres kept us in check back there and also caught a great game.”

In the top of the ninth, Orange again got off to a great start in the inning with Jesse Getchel getting on first with no outs on an error. But things swung Albemarle’s way in the next at-bat as Orange’s attempt to lay down a sacfrice bunt was squandered by a pair of fouls. Forced to swing away, Orange found themselves without a base runner and down to its last out as Albemarle turned a 6-4-3 double play. Reliever Danny Morris ended the inning with a strike out in the next at-bat.

“One team was able to lay down the bunt iate and one team wasn’t,” said Orange coach Jessie Lohr.

Jake Hendrix led the bottom of the ninth off with a single. Having helped turned the double play earlier, Josh Sites advanced Hendrix to second to set up the walk-off single.

The loss leaves Orange at 5-2 on year, but despite the defeat Lohr and his team maintain a positive outlook.

“We’ve lost two games right now − one by one run, one by two runs − so we’re playing good baseball right now,” Lohr said. “That’s a very good Albemarle team we played but at the same time, I think we let them know that if we continue to play the way we’re playing, we’re not going to let them run away (with the district).”

Justice took the complete game loss with eight strike outs, one walk and three earned runs, earning Lohr’s praise, who’s both his high school and legion coach.

“I really thought that was one of Derek’s best outings all year,” Lohr said. “But that’s a team over there that you can’t give any runs to. Unearned runs, against that team, they’ll come back to get you.”

Orange will travel to Spotsylvania on Thursday.

Albemarle (7-0) jumps right back into action today when they host Lynchburg.

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