McLean Drops A Pair On
The Road To District Leaders

Farley left a runner stranded on 2^nd base in McLean’s half of the first inning, bringing Madison to bat.  Kyle McIntyre led off for the Warhawks in the bottom of the first, and hit a routine ground ball to shortstop, but was safe on an errant throw.  Madison took excellent advantage of the opportunity and plated 3 runs in the first, making the score 3-0.

The Highlanders responded well in the top of the 2^nd off of Farley.  Drew Morgan led off the inning with a double to right field.  Denis Buckley then grounded out, advancing Morgan to 3^rd base.  Quinn Pippin reached safely on an error by the first baseman, scoring Morgan and earning an RBI since Morgan was breaking on the ball.  The Highlanders had closed the gap to 3-1.

Morgan then settled in for the Highlanders and threw the ball extremely well over the course of the next three innings.  From the 2^nd through the 5^th inning, the Senior allowed just one Warhawk base runner, mixing his pitches well and keeping Madison off-balance.  However, Farley was equally impressive and McLean was never able to close the two run margin.

In the bottom of the 5^th, Morgan began to run out of gas and the floodgates opened up.  Madison plated 7 runs in the bottom of the 5^th, and an additional run in the bottom of the 6^th to win by an 11-1 margin.

McLean had lost by a lopsided margin, but had been very competitive over the game’s first 5 innings.  “Our kids were ready to play tonight”, McLean coach John Thomas said.  “I thought that Drew threw the ball very well for us out there.  I am proud of the way that he battled and kept us in the game after Madison could’ve blown us off the field there in the first inning.  I thought that all of our guys battled really hard tonight against a truly great high school pitcher.  We can’t and won’t ask more out of them than that.  We have to just flush this one and get ready for Stone Bridge.”

McLean traveled to Ashburn, VA on Friday, April 27^th for a rematch of an epic battle taking place earlier in the year with the Stone Bridge Bulldogs.  McLean had outlasted the Bulldogs 5-4 during the first district cycle in a 10 inning marathon against the two rivals. However, Stone Bridge entered the game in sole possession of 2^nd place in the Liberty District.  On this night, Sean Fitzgerald took the hill for the Highlanders, while Stone Bridge countered with Ty Weaver.

McLean opened the scoring in the top of the 2^nd inning, as Andrew Stowe lined a two-out double and James Pascoe followed with a single into right field, plating Stowe.  McLean led 1-0.  In the fourth, McLean struck again as Drew Morgan reached 2^nd base on a throwing error and scored on Stowe’s RBI single into left field.  The lead was now 2-0.

In the meantime, Fitzgerald was rolling.  The freshman right-hander consistently kept the ball down in the strike zone, and the McLean infield played solidly behind him.  Nick Vanderhye, Quinn Pippin, Ryan Blackwell, and Sam Kaiser all shined defensively for McLean in support of Fitzgerald.

In the bottom of the fourth, Stone Bridge scratched out a couple of runs (helped by a McLean throwing error) to tie the score at 2-2.  The very good and very well-balanced Bulldog lineup had finally busted through.  However, Fitzgerald bore down with runners on first and third and induced a groundout to get McLean out of the inning and preserve the tie.

McLean threatened in the bottom of the 6^th, when Drew Morgan singled with two outs and Sam Kaiser followed with an opposite field double down the left field line, giving the Highlanders runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with two out.  However, McLean could not push a go-ahead run across.  Stone Bridge plated a 3^rd run in the 7^th on a wild pitch with two out, and won the game 3-2.

McLean had been involved in yet another fierce battle with Stone Bridge, but the trend of the home team winning close games continued as Stone Bridge successfully defended their own turf.  “That was another great ballgame”, coach Thomas said.  “I congratulate Stone Bridge for coming back to take this game from us.  I thought that Sean was outstanding tonight.  He deserved to win this game.  There aren’t many guys in the region throwing the ball better than he is for us right now, that’s for sure.   I was also happy to see some of our guys put some good swings on it tonight.  Stowe swung it well and Sammy gave us a clutch double off the bench.  We have to keep making forward progress in that are and we will win more of these types of games.  The bottom line is that while we’re disappointed to lose two games this week, I am very proud of the way our kids are sticking with it and plugging away.  I believe 100% that if commit to playing with the same energy that we played with this week, we are going to have a lot of success down the stretch.”