Highlanders Back On Track After 2-0 Week

On Tuesday, May 1^st, the McLean Highlanders traveled to Alexandria, VA for a game against the Thomas Jefferson Colonials.   McLean came into the ballgame dragging a three game losing skid with them.  Meanwhile, TJ was coming off of one of their best weeks in years, having defeated both second place Langley and first place Madison at home.  TJ had won three straight overall prior to the contest.  The Highlanders started senior Drew Morgan on the mound, while TJ countered with senior Doug Ross.

McLean did not wait long to strike.  Leadoff man Tyler Thompson drove the first pitch of the game into the left-center field gap for a double.  Sean Fitzgerald then followed with a bloop single into right field.  Denis Buckley followed with an infield hit to load the bases.  After a strikeout, Andrew Stowe put the Highlanders on the board with a two-strike sacrifice fly to left.  Quinn Pippin then followed with another single to push Fitzgerald across and give the Highlanders a 2-0 advantage before the top of the first came to a close.

Morgan was very sharp early on for McLean, and allowed a single to left field for TJ before striking out cleanup hitter Jonathan Yaroch to end the inning.  Ross settled in after McLean’s initial outburst and was able to retire McLean in order in the top of the 2^nd inning.  After a nifty 1-6-3 double play (Morgan to Fitzgerald to Payne), McLean escaped harm in the bottom half of the 2^nd to carry a 2-0 lead into the 3^rd inning.

Neither team was able to draw blood in the 3^rd inning.  Ross set the Highlanders down in order again in the top of the 4th, bringing the heart of the Colonial order back around to hit in their half of the frame.  TJ led-off the inning with a walk and an infield hit.   Morgan settled in and pitched effectively, but an RBI base hit and a wild pitch enabled TJ to tie the ballgame at 2-2.

In the 5^th, Quinn Pippin led off the inning for McLean with a double into the right centerfield gap.  After a strikeout, David Roffman came to bat for the Highlanders and promptly singled to left field, scoring Pippin and giving McLean a 3-2 lead.   Roffman was thrown out trying to advance to 2^nd on the throw home, but the damage had been done.

Morgan had settled back down nicely after TJ’s two run fourth, and for the final three frames, the senior was in complete control of the ballgame.  Morgan scattered six base hits, while finishing with seven strikeouts and two walks and wrapping up his first complete game of the season.  McLean had snapped their three game losing streak and was back in the win column.

“I thought we did a lot of things well tonight, but the night belonged to Drew”, McLean coach John Thomas said.  “We are built on pitching, and we need our starters to throw the ball like this if we want to beat good teams on the road, like we did tonight.  A senior stepped up for us big time tonight, and we obviously needed every bit of what he gave us.  Besides that, I thought that we came out with a tremendous amount of energy as soon as the anthem was finished.  Our kids deserve a ton of credit for that because that’s not always an easy thing to do when you’ve lost a few ballgames in a row.  TJ has obviously been playing real well to beat Langley and Madison last week, but we came out focused and ready to take the game to them.  I thought that Tyler did a great job of getting us going at the top of the lineup, and I also really liked the way that Stowe, Pippin, and Roffman swung the bat.  David picked up a clutch hit for us to give us the lead and we’re happy to see him come through in a big spot like that.  We got contributions from all 19 guys tonight in terms of providing us with great energy and we need that to get ourselves going here down the stretch.”

On Friday, May 4^th, the Highlanders were back home for the first time in two weeks as they played host to the South Lakes Seahawks in another Liberty District game.  South Lakes had beaten McLean in April by a 4-1 margin, and started Tommy Gately on the mound, who had pitched extremely well in going the distance against McLean in the first meeting.  McLean countered with freshman Sean Fitzgerald.

South Lakes did not wait long to show McLean that they had come to play, as they pushed a run across in the top of the first on the strength of two singles, a stolen base, and a sacrifice bunt.  Fitzgerald was able to buckle down, however, and leave a Seahawk runner stranded on third base.

McLean knotted the score at 1-1 in the third inning when Denis Buckley’s single into left field scored Tyler Thompson.  However, the Highlanders could not push any more runs across the plate and left the bases loaded.

Both Gately and Fitzgerald settled into the ballgame nicely through the 4^th and 5^th innings.  McLean’s young hurler consistently kept the ball down and mixed his pitches very well against the Seahawks’ veteran lineup.   In the bottom half of the 6^th inning, McLean’s David Roffman led off with a sky-high pop up in front of 3^rd base.  After circling underneath the ball, the Seahawk 3^rd baseman misplayed the landing and Roffman was safely on base.  This proved to be all the help the Highlanders would need and McLean quickly pounced on their opportunity.  James Pascoe followed with a perfect bunt down the 3^rd base line for a hit.  Both runners then advanced to 2^nd and 3^rd on a wild throw.  After a pop up gave South Lakes their first out, Tyler Thompson followed with a double to right-center field, driving in two runs and giving McLean a 3-1 advantage.  Before the inning was out, Fitzgerald, Buckley, Andrew Stowe, Quinn Pippin, and Pat Tawil all had base hits as well, pushing the score to 7-1.  Fitzgerald shut the Seahawks down in the top of the 7^th to seal the victory for the Highlanders.

The game marked McLean’s second victory in a row and brought their overall record to 9-9 (6-6 in Liberty District play).   Fitzgerald’s outstanding performance was highlighted by McLean’s terrific infield play, as Quinn Pippin, Nick Vanderhye, and Sam Kaiser all backed up the freshman hurler with solid fundamental effort and a few dazzling plays.  The Highlander offense came alive as well, as McLean pounded out 11 hits en route to the seven run output.  Tyler Thompson (3-4, 2 RBI, 2 runs) and Denis Buckley (3-4, 2 RBI, 1 run) led the way for McLean, while Quinn Pippin (2-4, RBI), Andrew Stowe (1-2, RBI, run), Pat Tawil (1-1, RBI), and James Pascoe (1-1, walk, HBP, run) also put together solid performances.

“Great team win tonight”, Coach Thomas said.  “As always, our dugout set the tone and was great all night.  I thought we really kept after it even after we left some guys on base early in the game.  It was great to see us pounce on the opportunities we got in the 6^th inning – that’s what we need to be able to do.  I thought that we swung the bats really well all night against a very good pitcher who we couldn’t touch a couple of weeks ago.  Obviously, Sean threw the ball really well tonight, as he has all year.  I thought that the defense behind him really enabled him to bear down and challenge guys, and Quinn, Nick, and Sam were all great tonight.  We need to keep our foot on the gas down the stretch here and keep ourselves focused on playing this type of baseball.”