McLean Falls To Madison In District Semi-Finals

On Friday, May 18^th, the McLean Highlanders traveled to Langley High School for a Liberty District Semi-Final contest with the Madison Warhawks.  In the two regular season games between the two teams, Madison had outscored the Highlanders by a total of 27-4.  McLean entered the match up having won it’s previous five games, and was insured of a Regional Tournament birth by way of beating Marshall two days before.  The Highlanders started freshman Sean Fitzgerald on the mound, while the Warhawks countered with senior All-American Jason Farley.

Neither team made much noise in the first inning, as McLean led off with a base hit by Tyler Thompson, who was subsequently picked off trying to steal 2^nd base.  The Warhawks got a base runner as well in the inning by way of a McLean error, but were unable to cash in.

In the 2^nd, McLean drew first blood.  Andrew Stowe led off the inning with a single up the middle.  Quinn Pippin then did a nice job with two strikes by making contact on the ground and advancing Stowe to 2^nd.  James Pascoe followed with a base hit to right field, moving Stowe to 3^rd to give the Highlanders runners at the corners with one out.  Erik Payne then singled to left field, scoring Stowe and allowing Pascoe to advance to third base on the throw to the plate.   David Roffman then flew out to shallow center field, but Pascoe tagged on the play and beat the throw to the plate, giving the Highlanders a 2-0 advantage.  Madison escaped further damage.

In the meantime, Fitzgerald was outstanding on the mound for the Highlanders.  The young righthander mixed his pitches to both sides of the plate beautifully, keeping the vaunted Warhawk lineup off balance through the first four frames.   In the top of the 5^th inning, McLean went to work on offense again looking to add to it’s two run lead.

David Roffman led off the inning for McLean with a line drive base hit to center field.  Justin Johnson then entered the game as a courtesy runner.  Nick Vanderhye then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, advancing Johnson to 2^nd.   Next, Tyler Thompson came to bat and continued his monster day at the plate for the Highlanders by doubling to right-center field, scoring Johnson and making the score 3-0.  Sean Fitzgerald then singled to left field, moving Thompson to 3^rd.   Denis Buckley followed with a base hit to left field, scoring Thompson and moving Fitzgerald to second base.   Farley then coaxed a double play ball out of Andrew Stowe, but the Highlanders had extended their lead to 4-0.

Madison earned a run back in the bottom of the fifth inning, but left runners at the corners as Fitzgerald wriggled out of trouble with an outstanding pitch to Madison cleanup hitter Sterling Sams, coaxing a pop out.

Brad Wimmer replaced Farley on the mound for the Warhawks in the top of the 6^th inning and after allowing a base hit to Pippin was able to retire the Highlanders in order.  McLean took the field in the bottom of the 6^th with a 4-1 advantage.

The Warhawks bats came to life early in the inning as Rich Conlan and Brian Smith stroked back to back singles.  Fitzgerald then hit Kyle McIntyre with a pitch, loading the bases for the Warhawks with nobody out.  Alex Andrews plated Conlan with a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 4-2 and giving Madison runners at 1^st and 3^rd.   Colin Flaherty then followed with a bloop single that dropped in front of the left-fielder, scoring Smith and moving McIntyre to third base.  After a strikeout of David McIntyre, Brig Tison came to bat with runners on 2^nd and 3^rd and two out.  Tison tapped a weak ground ball that the Highlander infield couldn’t quite handle, allowing Flaherty to tie the game at 4-4.  After McLean elected to walk Madison’s #3 hitter, Arman Moniri, Fitzgerald bore down and again coaxed Sams to flyout to end the inning and escape further damage.  However, Madison had fought back to tie the game at 4.

McLean went down in order in the top of the 7^th inning, and Fitzgerald returned the favor by setting Madison down 1-2-3 as well.  As the crowd at Langley High School swelled, the game went into extra innings with the score still knotted at 4-4.

Wimmer allowed a two-strike single to Stowe but promptly induced an inning ending double play to escape a potentially damaging situation.  Fitzgerald took the mound again for the Highlanders in the bottom of the eighth, trying to extend the ballgame into a ninth frame.

Alex Andrews led off the inning for Madison by stroking a two-strike pitch into center field for a single.  After a passed ball advanced Andrews to 2nd, Flaherty attempted to bunt Andrews over to third base, but fouled the pitch off.  On the next pitch, Fitzgerald attempted to throw a breaking ball over the outer half of the plate, but Flaherty was ready for it and jumped on the ball, sending a towering shot over the left field wall and ending the ballgame, giving Madison a 6-4 win.

McLean had fought valiantly, and had taken the huge crowd on hand for the district tournament game completely by surprise by pushing Madison all the way to the wire.  The Highlanders pounded out 10 hits on the night, scoring four earned runs against one of the top pitching staffs in the state of Virginia.  Offensively, McLean was led by Tyler Thompson, who went 3-4 with an RBI and a run.  Andrew Stowe added a 2-4 performance and also scored a run.  Erik Payne (1-3, RBI), James Pascoe (1-2, run), David Roffman (1-3, RBI), and Denis Buckley (1-3, RBI) also enjoyed solid nights for the Highlanders.   Sean Fitzgerald had pitched superbly for McLean against a lineup featuring seven first-team All-Liberty District selections, going the distance in the extra-inning affair and scattering nine hits while walking none and striking out two.

Following the game, McLean coach John Thomas commented:  “First of all, I have to congratulate Madison for making a great comeback and for beating us three times this season.  They showed tonight that in addition to being extremely talented, they have championship character.  I know their coaches are very proud of their performance and rightfully so.  I thought our guys played about as well as we could play offensively tonight.  Tyler Thompson was awesome for us at the top of the lineup.  He left it all on the field tonight and really showed what type of player he is.  We made some mistakes defensively, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.  Those things happen and that’s High School baseball.  I really can’t say enough about Sean Fitzgerald.  I think that he deserved to win this game, and I think the 1500 or so people who saw this game probably agree with me.  The kid pitched with no fear at all and he attacked Madison all night.  Two months ago, he made his first Varsity appearance against these guys and pretty much got hit all over the place, so to be able to pitch the way he did tonight in this atmosphere really demonstrates the pitcher that this kid is becoming.   Sean is going to win a lot more of these types of games than he loses.”

“It hurts not to win this game”, Thomas continued.  “I am very disappointed for our kids, because they came out and played with no fear, which is exactly what we asked them to do.  At the end of the day, though, our job now is to move forward.  We don’t have time to cry over this one.  We have a great opportunity a week from now to go to another great High School baseball atmosphere and play another outstanding team.  We will be ready.”

McLean travels to Purcellville, VA on Friday night (May 25^th) for a first round Northern Region Tournament match up against the Loudoun Valley High School Vikings, who are champions of the National District.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM.