After the big triple to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning against Goochland, the William Monroe players were begging for it. With Ryan Leake on third base, Lamar Nelson on first, no outs and leadoff hitter Jordan Gentry at the plate, Greene Dragons coach Mike Maynard consented.
“When Leake got into that ball, I thought squeezing would give us the best chance to win,” Maynard said.
And just like that, Gentry dropped a beautiful bunt down the third base line and won the game for Monroe, 4-3 in walk off fashion.
“Jordan and I have been playing together forever, and we’re always asking if we can squeeze and Coach Maynard keeps telling us that it’s not the right time,” Leake said. “He listened to us today and Jordan laid down a pretty bunt and I was able to take off for home.”
For Gentry, it was a familiar but nerve racking situation.
“Ryan and I have been on AAU teams growing up where we’ve won games, tournaments on a squeeze bunt,” Gentry said. “But it was a nervous situation (going into extra innings). Ryan got an awesome hit, a bomb, and coach was telling him to stop at second but he kept pushing and got to third. It paid off in the end.”
Trailing for most of the game, Goochland forced the dramatic eighth inning in the top of the seventh. Down by a pair of runs, the Bulldogs extended the game into the eighth thanks to an Alex McDowell double, and RBI on an error that was forced by Cody Davis, and an RBI single with two outs from Chase Brookman.
“We were down and battled back, which is great to see — the resiliency — that early in the season,” said Goochland coach Wes Farkas. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to make the plays at the end.”
Goochland nearly took the lead on a single from JT Poff, but watched Monroe’s defense shine as they gunned down Davis on a relay from right field which wound up in catcher Logan Forloines’ glove in just enough time to apply the tag.
It was the second time the Dragons defense came up with a big-time out. After a walk to Austin Lamb in the fifth inning, a throwing error put the Bulldogs second basemen on third with no outs. However Forloines managed to squash the scoring threat quickly there after, picking the runner off after a pitch.
Offensively, Monroe churned together its first three runs all in the fourth. Cody Thacker led the inning off with a single and Zach Duprey was hit by a pitch to follow. Both runners stole a base only to have an error on a ball hit by Nelson bring the two home. Two batters later, Jack Morris came up with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game, you don’t beat Louisa County the game before 12-2 unless you’re good,” Maynard said of facing Goochland. “Before the game I told the kids that someone was going to have win a close game tonight.”
Gentry pitched the first six innings of the contest for Monroe, and did not give up a run until the sixth inning when Ben Swecker came up with a two-strike single. Swecker then stole second, reached third on an error and took home on a wild pitch. Ryan Morris relieved Gentry in the seventh and sat down the side in the eighth on four pitches.
Pitching on short rest for Goochland, Wes McGuire came in relief the fourth inning. McGuire put a muzzle on the Dragons until the eighth inning as he struck out nine batters, including a stretch of five straight between the fourth and sixth innings.
“We prepared Wes for this and he came in a pitched great for us,” Farkas said. “We just didn’t give him enough offense tonight.”
Goochland (2-2, 1-2 Jefferson District) will play Western Albemarle at home on Friday at 5 p.m.
Monroe (5-1, 2-0) plays at Monticello also on Friday at 5 p.m.
