There were no shortage of extra base hits and it resulted in a great back-and-forth contest between Fluvanna County and Goochland. When it looked like the Bulldogs were establishing control in the top of the fifth, the Flucos answered right back with a rally of their own. And while Goochland threatened in the seventh, Fluvanna was able to come up with the defense to preserve an 8-6 win.
“You’ve got an 8-6 ball game and the free 90’s were dead even at 12 a piece,” said Fluvanna coach Mike Sheridan. “I’m tickled to death to be as young as we are and battle as we did. But I’ll tell you thing, our senior leadership really shone through today. We got a couple of seniors that are just leaders. Guys like Cody Herndon who made it every offseason workout and got on the other kids if they weren’t coming. Tonight when seniors came around in the lineup, they had big hits. It was a great team win.”
The ebb and flow started with Goochland taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Cole Starke doubled and was driven in by Forrest Witt who also cranked a double. But Fluvanna responded with a single from Mason Barringer followed shortly by an RBI double from Austin Foster.
In the third, the Flucos broke the tie with a pair of singles from Foster and Davin Biggs. An RBI single from Maxx Turner followed by an error scored both runners to make it 3-1 in Fluvanna’s favor.
Goochland caught up in the fourth after a triple from Connor Saunders and an RBI double from Mason Carneal. Then in the fifth, the Bulldogs pulled ahead with a leadoff double from Jake King, an RBI double from Strake Cole and an RBI single from Witt all in succession. After a walk, sacrifice bunt and a 2-run single from Colby Noel, Goochland had a 6-3 lead.
“I think you learn a lot in the first game pretty quick,” said Goochland coach Wes Farkas. “It’s our first good outing and we did a good job of putting the ball in play, a couple of guys just stroked the ball. But we also had the mental mistakes and we’ll have to learn from that. That’ll be the key.”
The big rally for Fluvanna didn’t take long. In the bottom of the fifth Jalen Harrison started it with a single. A walk to Foster was followed by an RBI single from Biggs, another RBI single from Turner and a sacrifice fly from Dylon Garnett. After an error that scored Turner and another walk, Javon Burton delivered an RBI single to give the Flucos the 8-6 advantage.
“I don’t know what happened there,” Turner said. “I was terrible (at the plate) last year but something happened… I guess we were just running on adrenaline.”
With their backs against the wall, Goochland put runners on third and second with two outs, but a passed ball that kicked off the backstop played perfectly into Fluvanna’s hands as they threw out the runner that would have made it a 1-run game at home.
“I turned the to the team in the dugout when it was going on and said, ‘My God, I’m 48 and just as nervous as a doggone kid,” Sheridan said. “This is why you call baseball ‘America’s game.’ You have just a little bit of everything on this field and everytime.”
For Goochland, Starke was 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Witt also went 2 for 4. Saunders finished 2 for 3.
Turner went 3 for 3 for Fluvanna with a pair of RBI with Foster going 2 for 4.
Goochland (0-1) hosts Louisa County on Monday at 6 p.m.
Fluvanna (1-0) will play twice in a mini tournament it’s hosting today starting at noon.
