Jack Morris made two starts on Friday night for William Monroe. He took the mound in the first inning, struck out three batters and then had to wait an hour to get back on the mound because he and his teammates wouldn’t stop hitting. It was simply the Dragons night with the offensive absolutely exploding in the first inning and Morris doling out a no-hit effort to lead the way to an 18-0 win in five innings against Clarke County.
“Jack threw great tonight, went out there and just threw strikes all game long,” said Monroe coach Mike Maynard. “We’ve been looking forward to this for a while now, our first district game. We’re young, but we’re working hard and we’ve got pretty big dreams again.”
When Trey Lamb started the bottom of the first with a double, the next seven batters reached base. On the way to a 10-0 lead, 14 batters came to the plate. Highlights during the scoring bonanza included a 2-run homerun from Keegan Woolford, and RBI double from Austin Batten and 2-run double from Jeff Early.
In the second, Monroe brought nine batters to the plate and tacked on five more runs to its lead. The Dragons loaded the bases on walks and a batter hit by a pitch. Lamb, Woolford and Batten delivered RBI singles with Monroe taking its foot off the accelerator with the healthy lead.
After a scoreless third, the Dragons got three more runs with singles from Ryan Leake and Batten and a 2-run double from Scott Peacher.
But the story for Monroe after the wild start offensively was the unreal night that Morris had as he picked up the 5-inning nohitter, striking out 15 batters along the way and allowing just four base runners (one of those on a strike out fittingly enough).
“I haven’t had the best control of my fastball lately, but it clicked for me tonight,” Morris said. “Keegan really helped me out behind the plate, hung in there with me and in the end it turned out well.”
Offensively, Woolford was 3 for 3 with 4RBIS and 3 runs scored. Batten went 4 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Over the last three games William Monroe has outscored its opponents 56-10.
The Dragons (7-0, 2-0 Bull Run District) travel to George Mason on Tuesday at 7 p.m. This is the 34th straight win for Monroe against a district opponent, and Maynard has yet to drop a district game since he took over in 2011. The last time the Dragons lost a district game was in the 2010 Jefferson District quarterfinals against Orange County.
