For the most part, the offense has been there since week one. For Monticello baseball, finding the quality starts has been the key. Carter “Goose” Lee’s approach is about having his team play defense behind him. On Tuesday, after Albemarle took a 3-0 lead in the first two innings, the Mustangs starter and his defense found a rhythm. Lee went the distance to earn the complete game victory as the Mustangs rallied to take a 4-3 lead and then blew up in the bottom of the sixth for a 13-3 run ruling over the Patriots.
“Caps off to Albemarle — they executed in the first two innings and took it to us,” said Monticello coach Corey Hunt. “We made a few adjustments and the guys got a few clutch hits here and there, we got a few clutch pitches from Carter Lee who settled in on the mound (then we made) the defensive plays and you find yourself back in the ball game. So it took all of us tonight to beat that club.”
Monticello started out in a 3-0 hole after Nathan Toney and Ryan Porter reached on a walk and error. A sacrifice from Jacob Nash and an RBI fielder’s choice from Scott Reid made it 2-0 in the first. Then in the top of the third an error put Porter on base and Nash hit an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Lee was on point from there though. He retired ten of the last 12 batters he faced, giving up just two singles in the process and inducing seven ground ball outs along the way.
“I was just pitching for contact with the fastball working,” Lee said. “I know I’ve got fielders that could play catch and get the outs. It’s good to know they’ve got my back so I’ll keep on pitching for contact.”
Offensively, the Mustangs came to life in the bottom of the third. Bryce McGlothlin was hit by a pitch and Lee singled in the next at-bat. After an RBI single from Tristan Winn and RBI fielder’s choice from Jacob Byrnes, the Mustangs had the Albemarle lead down to 3-2.
In the sixth, Monticello cut loose for 11 runs to win the game. Tyler Walker led off with a single. Then Kevin Jarrell followed with a single. McGlothin drove in two on a single to give Monticello the lead. After a fielder’s choiace, Lee drove in two more runs on a double. Winn hit an RBI single in the next at-bat. A walk and Walker RBI double then followed. Jarrell reached on an error and after another walk, an RBI single from McGlothin and a walk with the bases loaded to Lee, the Mustangs walked off with the run ruling.
“It was the old saying of hitting is contagious and it’s always easy to go to the plate after the last guy has a good at-bat,” Hunt said. “We keep the quality at-bat charts each day. We want our guys to have quality at-bats and it’s easy to follow up a guy that does that. The last few innings we did a good job of that. You’re not always going to have hits, always going to have runs but you can have a quality at-bat with each approach at the plate.”
On the day for Monticello, McGlothlin finished 3-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored. Walker was 2-for-2 with three runs scored. Jarrell was 1-for-3 with three runs scored. Lee went 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
For Albemarle, Porter was 1-for-3 with two runs scored but reached base in all three at-bats. Nash finished 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Monticello hosts Fluvanna County on Thursday at 7 p.m. while Albemarle travels to Powhatan at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
