Yes, it’s definitely going to be one of those truly chaotic baseball seasons in the Jefferson District, and Goochland is proof of it. Coming off of a 3-run loss to Charlottesville on Tuesday, the Bulldogs took it to the JD’s defending regular season and tournament champions Louisa County, 12-2.
“This is a big win for our guys,” said Goochland coach Wes Farkas. “We’ve lost to Louisa the last few years and we came here with a purpose to try and get one back on them. We knew since (the district) is wide open, this was a chance for us to make a statement and I think we did that tonight.”
After a scoreless first inning, Goochland broke off a 6-run second thanks to a barrage of Louisa fielding and throwing errors. Dylan Dolan tacked on the first two runs when he drove in Cody Johnson and Alex McDowell. Jess McLaughlin brought in Dolan and Austin Lamb shortly there after on an RBI single. After an error advanced McLaughlin, Chase Brookman brought him home on a sacrifice fly to left field. Johnson then came back around and drove in Ben Swecker on an RBI single to complete the busy top half of the inning.
“When you make that many errors, you’re not going to beat anybody,” said Louisa coach Kevin Fisher. “Goochland came out and they swung the bats well, even without the errors they still swung the bat and put runners on and put pressure on us all night.”
The 6-0 run lead was more than enough for Bulldogs starting pitcher, Wes McGuire, who bowled through the Lions lineup, keeping Louisa off balance with a hard fastball and effective curve to the tune of just two hits, two walks and one earned run.
“I felt pretty good right from the beginning,” McGuire said. “I had control of my fastball and my curveball but I was able to mix in some changeups that worked pretty well too. A 6-run lead after two innings, you can’t talk about that enough. It allows to be relaxed up there and go and play your game.”
Coversely, the senior racked up 11 strikeouts on 84 pitches and seven innings of work.
The Lions scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the second after a Robert Terrell single and groundout RBI from Josh Seay. Two innings later, Louisa added its second run on a walk to Terrell and RBI on a error forced by Seay.
Goochland added to its lead in the third on 1-run triple from McLaughlin and an RBI single from Trent Dankos. The next inning, Scott Ragland picked up the first of his two hits, a solo home run on a blast hit to left field. The Bulldogs scored three more runs in the top of the seventh for added an insurance with a 2-run single from Brookman and an RBI double from Swecker.
“We came alive tonight, it was about time,” Farkas said. “We’ve been working on pitch selection all week and I think that they finally took that to heart and went and hit the good pitches.”
The Bulldogs (2-1) will play William Monroe on Tuesday at Orange County at 5 p.m.
The Lions (0-1) head to Spotsylvania on Monday at 7 p.m.
