Highlanders Beat Woodson, Lose to Langley

The Highlanders opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning, on the strength of a base hit by Sean Fitzgerald and an RBI groundout by Tyler Thompson.  McLean continued their scoring with two more runs in the 2^nd inning and scored again in the 4^th with three more, eventually building a 6-3 lead.

Morgan did not have his best stuff on the hill for the Highlanders, but the Senior continually challenged Woodson’s tough lineup and competed very well.  In the bottom half of the 5^th inning, however, Morgan ran out of gas and was relieved by Andrew Stowe as the Cavalier bats began to heat up.  Woodson, led by a two run opposite field homerun by catcher Jacob Morely, scored 5 runs in the 5^th frame to grab an 8-6 lead. 

The Highlanders were stunned, but never lost their composure and kept calm as they came to bat in the top of the 6^th inning.  Quinn Pippin led off by hitting a bullet to left field that was robbed by an outstanding diving catch by the Cavalier leftfielder.  McLean trailed by 2 with five outs to go.  Kendall Wilkins came to bat next for McLean and singled up the middle.  Pat Tawil then came to bat and struck out, but the ball slid underneath Morely’s glove, allowing Tawil to reach base.  Sean Fitzgerald then singled, scoring Wilkins.  McLean now trailed 8-7 with Tyler Thompson coming to the plate and two runners aboard.  Thompson worked the count to 1-1 before smashing a fastball over the center field fence, giving the Highlanders a 10-8 advantage. 

Stowe shut down the Woodson lineup over the last two innings, and the game ended with the Highlanders escaping with a 10-8 win.  McLean was led offensively by Thompson, who finished 3-4 with a homerun and 5 RBI.  Sean Fitzgerald (2-3, run), Nick Vanderhye (1-4, double, RBI), Denis Buckley (1-3, RBI), Quinn Pippin (1-2, run, 2 BB), and Erik Payne (1-2, run) all enjoyed stellar nights offensively for the Highlanders. 

“It was great to see our bats come alive tonight”, McLean coach John Thomas said.  “More importantly, it was great to see our kids be able to fight back and win the game after giving up the lead in the 5^th inning.  I am really proud of the way our kids stuck with it and were determined to get this win.  Obviously, Tyler was huge for us tonight.  He is an outstanding hitter and he showed it tonight.  We got contributions from a lot of guys tonight, and I thought that our dugout was full of life for 7 innings, which we need.   I thought that Drew threw the ball really well all things considered.  He didn’t have his best stuff but he battled for us and kept us in the game.  I left him in a little too long tonight, and the responsibility for their 5 run 5^th inning is on my shoulders.   I thought that Woodson swung the bat awfully well tonight, and we are very happy to be able to come in here and get a win against a tough team on the road.”

On Saturday, April 21^st, McLean played host to their cross-town rivals, the Langley Saxons.  The gamed marked the beginning of a new tradition in the rivalry, as the teams played a JV/Varsity doubleheader for the first time.  A large crowd gathered at McLean Baseball Field to see the rematch of the season’s first game, when Langley came back to beat McLean 4-3 in nine innings.  McLean started Freshman Sean Fitzgerald on the mound and Langley countered with Senior Daniel Hochberg.

Both teams threatened to score in the first inning, but Langley left a pair of runners in scoring position and McLean left a runner on third base.  Langley did push a run across in the 2^nd inning to grab a 1-0 lead.  The Highlanders put their best threat of the day together in the 3^rd inning, as Tyler Thompson reached 2^nd base on an error to lead off the inning.  The Saxons then elected to intentionally walk Drew Morgan, putting runners on 1^st and 2^nd before Andrew Stowe struck out.  Quinn Pippin then grounded out, advancing the runners to 2^nd and 3^rd.  The Saxons then intentionally walked Denis Buckley, bringing David Roffman to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.   However, Hochberg settled down to strike Roffman out to end the threat.

McLean never truly threatened to score again, as Hochberg put an outstanding performance together by mixing his pitches and throwing strikes all day.  Fitzgerald was outstanding for McLean as well, and left the ballgame in the top of the 6^th inning with his team trailing 1-0.  The McLean bullpen did not pitch well, though, and Langley was able to put the game out of reach in the final two innings, eventually winning by a 9-0 margin. 

“First of all, I have to take my hat off to Daniel Hochberg and to Langley”, McLean coach John Thomas said.  “He pitched a great game today and we never really did much of anything against him.  Their kids played a great game and beat us soundly in every aspect.  I was very pleased with the job that Sean Fitzgerald did today for us.  He is throwing the ball great for us and to pitch as well as he did in this environment says an awful lot about his mettle.   The bottom line is that we’ve got to be able to hit the ball better to give ourselves a chance against good teams like Langley.  We’ll keep plugging away and I think we’re going to get there.”