Highlanders Enjoy 3-0 Week

On Tuesday, April 8^th, the McLean Highlanders played host to the South Lakes High School Seahawks.  Both teams entered the contest at 0-2 in Liberty District play.  McLean started sophomore Sean Fitzgerald on the mound while the Seahawks countered with righty Ian Hostetler.

Fitzgerald retired the first two Seahawk batters easily in the top of the first before hitting the next two with inside fastballs.  However, he bore down to get Andrew Thomas-Calvo to ground out to SS Chris Russo to end the threat.

In the bottom of the first, Riley Beiro led off with an infield hit.  However, Beiro was thrown out by catcher Scott Reed attempting to steal 2^nd and the Highlanders were retired after just three batters.

Fitzgerald came out for the top of the 2^nd and quickly got himself on a roll, sending South Lakes down in order and notching his 2^nd strikeout of the game.  McLean came up in the bottom of the 2^nd with the game still scoreless.

Denis Buckley led off with a sharp single to short stop, which the Seahawk infield couldn’t handle.  Buckley reached on an error.  Erik Payne then drilled a single into right field, moving Buckley to 3^rd.  Payne advanced to 2^nd on the throw to third base.  Quinn Pippin then followed with a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Buckley and making the game 1-0.  Payne advanced to third base on a brilliant heads up play as he caught the Seahawk infield off-guard leaving 3^rd base uncovered.  As the Seahawks attempted to recover, the ball was thrown high towards 3^rd base and into left field, allowing Payne to score and making the game 2-0.  David Roffman then doubled into right-center field, but the Highlanders couldn’t cash him in and went back out for the top of the 3^rd staked to a 2-0 lead.

Fitzgerald continued to cruise through the Seahawk lineup in the 3^rd inning as he again retired the side, 1-2-3, using a very nice pick-off move to 1^st base to nab Noah Sweet and nullify a one out walk.

Riley Beiro led off the bottom of the 3^rd for the Highlanders by getting hit by a pitch for the 6^th time on the season.  Beiro was then picked off first base.  After a ground out, Sean Fitzgerald reached base with two outs after an infield error.  Denis Buckley followed with a single to left, advancing Fitzgerald to 2^nd.  Erik Payne then singled up the middle, scoring Fitzgerald and advancing Buckley to 3^rd on the throw home.  Quinn Pippin then doubled to left-center field, scoring both Buckley and Payne and making the score 5-0.  The inning came to a close after a fly out to right field, but the Highlanders had added to their lead.

Fitzgerald continued to roll through the 4^th inning.  After a leadoff single by Reed, the sophomore induced a groundball force-out to 2^nd base, and was aided by a terrific throw from Roffman, who picked off the Seahawk runner from behind the plate.  A groundout to second base ended the 4^th with the score still 5-0.

Corey Cannon led off the bottom half of the fourth by drawing a full-count walk.  Brett Bleiweis then advanced Cannon to 2^nd with a perfect sacrifice bunt down the 1^st base line.  Beiro then singled into centerfield, scoring Cannon and making the score 6-0.  A controversial runners interference call ended the Highlander threat, but the lead had been extended once again.

Fitzgerald used three straight groundball outs on 8 pitches to retire South Lakes in the top of the 5^th.  After the Highlanders went down in order in the bottom of the frame, Fitzgerald came back out for the top of the 6^th still staked to a 6-0 lead.

Wilfredo Ortiz struck out to lead off the 6^th for South Lakes.  Noah Sweet then grounded out to short stop for the 2^nd out of the inning.  Paul Kirchner singled up the middle for just the 2^nd Seahawk base hit of the game.  Reed then drew a two out walk.  The next South Lakes hitter poked a single into right field, scoring Kirchner and making the score 6-1, McLean.  Fitzgerald then bore down to get Thomas-Calvo to pop up in the infield, and the side was retired.

McLean again went down in order in the  bottom of the 6^th, and in the top of the 7^th inning, sophomore Denis Buckley went to the mound in place of Fitzgerald.  Buckley struck out Will Sweet to begin the frame, and after a one-out walk to Kevin Ball, the young right-hander induced a perfect 6-4-3 ground ball to end the game and preserve a 6-1 win for the Highlanders.

Aiding Fitzgerald’s sterling performance on the mound were Riley Beiro (2-2, RBI, BB), Erik Payne (2-3, RBI, 2 runs), and Quinn Pippin (1-2, 3 RBI).  The Highlanders had also played sterling defense during the game and did not make an error.

“Tonight was a very big win for us”, McLean coach John Thomas said afterwards.  “It was big because it’s our first district win of the year, but I also thought that we got a ton of positive contributions from throughout our lineup and our roster tonight.  It’s good to see Sean throwing the ball like he was tonight.  I thought that his stuff was very sharp and he did a great job getting ahead in the count all night.  I also thought that Erik and Quinn did a great job hitting the ball hard tonight with runners on base.  This was just a very crisp win for us tonight and I’m excited to get right back at it tomorrow.”

On Wednesday, April 9^th, McLean was right back at it, this time on the road against the Colonials of Thomas Jefferson High School.  McLean started senior Quinn Pippin on the hill while TJ countered with junior Chris Kilgore. 

The Highlanders struck early as Chris Russo led off the game by getting hit with a pitch.  Russo quickly stole 2^nd base, and Sean Fitzgerald reached base on an error by the Colonial short stop.  Denis Buckley then walked, loading the bases.  Kilgore was then called for the first of two balks in the inning, scoring Russo and advancing both Fitzgerald and Buckley.  Erik Payne followed with another walk, loading the bases again.  Quinn Pippin then reached safely on another Colonial infield error, scoring Fitzgerald.  David Roffman then hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Payne and making the score 3-0.  Jim Bodson then singled to centerfield, scoring Payne and Pippin and making it 5-0.  TJ escaped further damage, but McLean now held a 5 run lead after just a half-inning of play.

The tone had been set early, and the Highlander pitchers did an outstanding job of throwing strikes and making the early lead hold up.  Pippin cruised through three innings of work, needing just 42 pitches to keep the Colonials hitless and allowing two walks.   After the Highlanders used a David Roffman solo home run, a Kendall Wilkins double followed by a Fitzgerald sac fly, and a Denis Buckley RBI double to build an 8-0 lead, McLean opted to go to the bullpen, bringing in freshman Billy Heberton.

Heberton was very sharp in the bottom of the fourth for the Highlanders, as the right-hander needed just 10 pitches to retire the side in order on three straight groundouts.  At the end of four, McLean led 8-0.

After the Highlanders were retired quickly in the top of the 5^th, McLean went to the bullpen again, this time electing to go with sophomore left-hander Charlie Geiger.  Geiger pitched very well through the games final three innings, as the sophomore earned his first careers save by allowing just one earned run on one hit and three walks.   The final score was McLean 8, Jefferson 2.

“Another important win for us tonight”, Coach Thomas said afterward.  “I thought that our pitchers did a real nice job tonight after we jumped out to an early lead.  Our defense is a big strength for us this year, and our pitchers are doing an excellent job of going after guys and pitching to contact.  I thought that we did a great job capitalizing on some of their mistakes tonight…….that’s an important thing to be able to do, and it’s something that we want to keep getting better at.  I also thought that Russo was terrific for us filing in at the leadoff spot tonight.  He was on base 3 out of 4 times and did a great job on the basepaths.  All in all, we’re excited to even up our district record and we’re looking forward to Marshall on Friday.”

On Friday, April 11^th, McLean traveled to Marshall High School for a game against the Marshall Statesman.  The game marked McLean’s fourth contest in six days.  The Highlanders started sophomore Denis Buckley on the mound while Marshall countered with senior left-hander Justin Britt.

Both pitchers cruised through the games first four innings, looking very sharp in the process.  McLean managed only one hit through the first four innings, but were able to elevate Britt’s pitch count by drawing three walks and going deep into the count several times.  As the Highlanders came to bat for the top of the 5^th inning, the score remained deadlocked at 0-0.

Kendall Wilkins reached first to lead off the frame by drawing a full-count walk after getting behind in the count 0-2.  Wilkins advanced to 2^nd on a passed ball.  Riley Beiro then drilled a two-strike fastball into centerfield, scoring Wilkins and making it 1-0.  Beiro then advanced to 2^nd on a balk by Britt.  Chris Russo then laid down his third sacrifice bunt of the year, advancing Beiro to 3rd base.  Sean Fitzgerald then popped out for the 2^nd out of the inning.   Denis Buckley next drilled a double into right-center field, scoring Beiro and making it 2-0.  Erik Payne followed with a walk.  Quinn Pippin then drilled a double down the left field line, scoring Buckley and Payne and making it 4-0.  David Roffman followed with a slow ground ball that the Marshall shortstop couldn’t handle, reaching first base on the error and scoring Pippin.  Jim Bodson followed with a two RBI single into right field, scoring Pippin and courtesy runner Corey Cannon and extending the lead to 6-0.  After Kendall Wilkins’ 2^nd walk of the inning, Beiro followed with another base hit to right field, scoring two more runs to make the score 8-0.  Marshall escaped further damage in the inning, but McLean had jumped out to a big lead.

Buckley finally ran into some trouble in the bottom of the 5^th, as Marshall used four straight base hits, an error, and a walk to score four runs in the frame.  Billy Heberton came on with two outs in the inning in relief of Buckley to retire the side, but Marshall had closed to within 8-4.  After the Highlanders stranded a runner at first base in the top of the seventh, the Statesman came back up for the bottom of the 7^th trailing by four runs.

Heberton allowed a leadoff single to left field.  The Highlanders then elected to bring in senior Quinn Pippin to relieve Heberton.  Pippin did his job, inducing a ground ball to third base.  However, the McLean infield couldn’t quite make the play and Marshall had runners on first and second with no outs.  After the next Statesmen hitter singled to right field, the Highlanders went to their bullpen once again, opting to bring in Sean Fitzgerald with the bases loaded and no one out.  Fitzgerald worked Daniel Blakely to a full count before Blakely belted a long fly ball that hit the very top of the fence in left center field for a double.  However, the Highlander defense did a tremendous job on the play, as Riley Beiro’s relay throw to Chris Russo allowed Russo to throw behind the Statesmen runner at third base, hanging up the runner and getting McLean the precious first out of the inning.  The Highlanders now led 8-6 with one out and a runner on 2^nd base.  On the game’s next pitch, Fitzgerald threw a breaking ball that Buckley (now catching) kept in front of him, enabling him to throw out the Marshall runner, who was trying to advance to third.  There were now two outs and no one on base.  Fitzgerald secured the final out of the game after Greg Goldsmith flied out to left field to end the game.

After the game, Coach Thomas commented, “Obviously that was a heck of a finish to tonight’s game.  I give our pitchers and our defense a lot of credit tonight for enabling us to hang on and secure this win.  I thought that Buck did a tremendous job for us on the mound tonight, and we really needed his performance on a night when we were going up against a really good pitcher in Justin Britt.  I also give our hitters throughout the lineup a lot of credit, because I thought we did a great job of making life tough on him when he was throwing the ball really well and getting his pitch count up there going into our big 5^th inning.  We knew that he was going on short rest, so we tried to be as patient with him as we could and see if we could wear him down a little bit.  Our guys really did a nice job with their approach at the plate tonight, and that was a big factor in us getting this win.   We feel good about the week we had this week, and we’re really looking forward to three more really tough Liberty games next week.”

The Highlanders are back in action on Monday, April 14^th, as they are back at home hosting the WT Woodson High School Cavaliers.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM.