On Wednesday night, Western Albemarle baseball traveled to Fluvanna County playing for a shot to clinch the Jefferson District regular season championship.
The Warriors took advantage of the opportunity, surging to win the game 13-1 in six innings.
“We’ve played really well all year, it’s been a really nice thing to see,” said Warriors coach Skip Hudgins. “One of the things we’ve been really happy to see is how we can swing the bats up and down our lineup. “There really isn’t a dead place in our lineup where you can say if you’re pitching you can take a break, and I think that came through tonight.”
It took a little while for the scoring to get started, as through the first two innings it seemed like the game was heading towards a pitcher’s duel between Benjamin Winslow for the Warriors and Joseph Gomez for the Flucos.
However, the Warriors’ bats got going in the top of the third, with RBI doubles from Andrew Barrese and James Meenan helping give their squad a 3-0 lead as the Warriors took advantage of a Fluco error as well. Barrese ended the night going 1-for-2 with two hit-by-pitches, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. Meenan went 1-for-3 with the RBI double, a run scored and two walks.
Then in the fourth the lead grew to 4-0 on an RBI single from Luke Craytor. Craytor had a huge night, going 3-for-5 with a double, four RBIs, two runs scored and a steal for the Warriors.
The Flucos seemed like they were getting ready to fight back in the fourth as well, getting what seemed to be a big two-out RBI single from Bradley Cox to help make it a 4-1 game after four innings. Cox finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. Tristan Chisholm also had a key performance for the Flucos, going 1-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base.
But the Flucos’ effort was quickly silenced, as the Warriors went up 8-1 in the bottom of the fifth, and Winslow was absolutely dealing on the mound.
“I was really feeling my curveball for the first half of the game, so I was working with that and the fastball felt good today so I was really trying to mix those two, and then at the end of the game I started working my slider in as well,” said Winslow, who threw a six-inning complete game, giving up one run while striking out 10 batters, and allowing no walks.
He also helped himself at the plate with a 2-for-5 night with a double, three RBIs and a run scored as well. With Winslow dealing and the Warriors’ bats staying hot, they put up some more runs in the sixth to make it 13-1, and ended the game in the bottom half.
The win gives the Warriors the regular season District title, and gives them plenty of momentum going into next week’s contest at Louisa on Tuesday. The Flucos will try to regroup as they hit the road to face Orange the same night.
