Exactly one week after winning an 11-inning showdown at Louisa County, Albemarle completed a season sweep of the Lions with a 7-1 victory Thursday night at Albemarle.
Early on, however, it looked as though the two squads were going to be battling it out down to the wire again.
Louisa scored in the top of the first inning and starting pitcher Lucas Cash was dominant early in the game, holding Albemarle scoreless for the first four innings.
The entire complexion of the game changed in the fifth inning. Alex Bingler, Albemarle’s starting pitcher who had settled in nicely after giving up the run in the first inning, got into some trouble in the top of the fifth by walking Louisa’s first batter of the inning. In came sophomore Will Coleman who got three straight outs to keep the Albemarle deficit at just one run.
“Alex had thrown so good for us, but he looked like he was getting a little tired,” said Albemarle head coach Jimmy Bibb. “Will came in and got us out of a jam.”
In the bottom of the fifth inning and still trailing 1-0, Albemarle looked to tie things up with some small ball but got way more than that. Jason Breen led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. William Townsend bunted to get Breen to second, and then Alex Bingler hit a sharp grounder down the right field line to score Breen and tie the game at one. Gordon Duval then came up and smashed the ball all the way to the center field wall for a triple which scored Bingler from first base to give the Patriots the lead. Louisa made a pitching change, but the Patriots kept rolling. Jacob Hensley drew a walk on four pitches and then Duval scored from third on an error on a routine throw from the catcher back to the pitcher that slipped away.
“We ran the bases really well,” said Bibb. “That was huge. We took advantage of a couple of plays and put the pressure on them running the bases.”
Jack McMullan then singled to score Hensley and then Adam Schantz, who got on base on another walk, scored on an infield single by Austin Bowen to make it 5-1. The Patriots scored again as Breen came up again and grounded it through the third baseman’s legs and into left field to make it 6-1.
Louisa, who just watched a one-run lead turn into a five-run deficit, refused to go away easily. A walk and two singles loaded the bases for the Lions with just one out.
“They’re such a good team,” said Bibb. “They’re like us, they’re a little bit young. We have three seniors, they have two.
Coleman responded well to the pressure, striking out Josh Cutright and getting Brent Wallace to ground out to third to end the inning without allowing a single run to cross the plate.
“I thought that we battled,” Bibb added. “Pitching was outstanding, kept us in the ballgame.”
Albemarle got another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Bingler walked, Duval got hit by a pitch, and Hensley singled to load the bases. Then, Coleman got hit by a pitch to score Bingler from third to make it 7-1. Jacob Barber, pitching for Louisa that inning, did well to limit the damage as he then struck out McMullan and got Bowen to fly out to center to end the inning.
Coleman nearly got himself into some trouble again in the top of the seventh as Louisa got back to back singles by Codey Batten and Evan Straley. But Coleman showed resilience once again, getting the next three Louisa batters out to close out the game and clinch the victory for Albemarle.
“We executed that squeeze bunt in the sixth inning that helped get us around. It feels great to not play 11 innings,” Coleman said with a laugh.
“The kids have been resilient,” Bibb said. “I’m just real proud of them, they’re working so hard in practice.”
Albemarle will host Monticello on Tuesday night, while Louisa will host Orange County the same night.
