Fluvanna Post 2003 handed Albemarle Post 74 its first loss of the season just a few weeks ago, and sent Sean Byrnes to the mound for the second time against the defending District 13 champions with the same result. With Jack Maynard throwing for Post 74, it was a pure pitchers duel halfway through the fourth inning. But with two outs in the top of the fourth, a throwing error opened the door for Albemarle. In classic case of getting given an inch and taking a foot, Post 74 tacked on four runs to finally break the scoreless tie. A sacrifice fly in the fifth and a 3-run rally in the ninth iced the game for Albemarle as they won their fourth game in five days by beating Fluvanna 8-0.
“They beat us early in the year so it was good to get out here on their field and get a win,” said Post 74 coach Mike Maynard. “Everyone complains if you have to play a bunch of games in a row, but offensively it makes you see a lot of pitches and you get on a roll there. We scored 19 runs against King George on Tuesday and we’re on a bit of a road trip here and doing pretty well.”
Before the unearned runs poured in during the top of the fourth, the story was Byrnes and Jack Maynard going back and forth. Byrnes escaped a bases loaded jam in the first and settled in after that.
“He was supposed to pitch last night but we were rained out se he’s had to go against maybe the best team we’ve played twice now and I thought he did a great job again tonight,” said Post 2003 coach Rodney Carter.
On the other hand, Maynard had all three pitches of his repatoire working for him. Maynard picked up the win by going seven innings and giving up no walks, just four hits and striking out four batters.
“All three pitches were working tonight and Connor Lilley was doing a great job behind the plate for me so I knew I could throw anywhere,” Maynard said. “He blocked everything, defense played great, everything worked pretty good.”
The rally in the fourth for Post 74 started with a 1-out walk to Josh Gibson. With two outs, Maynard reached first on a throwing error. AJ Willy then cashed in with a Texas leaguer to left field to break the deadlock and plate Gibson. That turned the order over and Jordan Gentry delivered an RBI single with Lonnie Dillard and Keegan Woolford in the next two at bats to make it 4-0.
“You can’t let a team like that have six outs in an inning and that’s what we did,” Carter said. “We threw it away, then we had a chip shot and got caught sleeping, a line drive off a glove, that was the big issue.”
A double by Austin Batten in the fifth led up to Maynard hitting a sac-fly to turn it into a 5-run lead. In the ninth, Gentry, Dillard and Woolford once again provided back-to-back-to-back RBI singles to wrap up the scoring on the night.
“Once we get a runner on base it’s kind of contagious,” Maynard said. “One person gets that hit and then it’s like a merry-go-round, everyone gets a hit. We’re just taking advantage of opportunities and mistakes to get our runs right now.”
Fluvanna’s lone scoring threat came in the third on a Thomas Dunnavant double with two outs. But a ground out in the next at-bat ended that opportunity and Albemarle’s pitching and defense kept Post 2003 from getting a runner in scoring position after that.
