Last year there were four meetings between Powhatan and Monticello with the Indians winning all four contests, three of those by just one run. The defending Group AA champions had the Mustangs on the ropes in the Jefferson District opener for both. Yet as improbable as it seemed, Monticello fought back from down nine runs to find a way to things up with the Indians. And from there the Mustangs knocked and knocked on the door. It took 10 innings to get it done, but with the bases loaded and two outs a breaking ball slipped through into the back stop, and with Alex McNair crossing the plate on the passed ball, gave Monticello a wild 11-10 win over Powhatan.
“It’s always a battle with those guys, they have a heck of a team, heck of a coaching staff, everything over there,” said Mustangs coach Corey Hunt. “We took it one pitch at a time to see where it fell. One guy picked up the other and we had the opportunity to win a heck of a ball game tonight.”
Powhatan did all its damage in the first and fourth innings. The Indians spotted six on the board in the first highlighted by a solo home run from Luke Scherzer and a 2-run blast from Carter Biringer.
Impressively, Monticello starter Brandon Beasley rebounded from his first inning struggles to throw two and two thirds more innings, retiring seven in a row between the end of the first through the third.
“I told Brandon that we don’t win this game unless he pitches like he knows how,” Hunt said. “Everyone had his back and he learned a lot of stuff today, things he can use down the road.”
With Will Decker delivering an RBI double in the bottom of the third for Monticello, Powhatan answered with another rally, this time for four more runs fueled by walks and errors and an RBI single from UVa bound Tyler Allen and a 2-run double from Luke Rodgers.
Down 10-1, Monticello put together a crazy 8-run rally, getting five with two outs. A single from McNair to lead off the fourth and a pair of wild pitches allowed the junior to take home and make it 10-2. The Mustangs then got an RBI singles from Nate Fox, Bobby Andris and Max Mann. Batting for the second time in the inning, McNair came up with Monticello’s biggest hit, a deep drive to center field that wound up as a 2-run double.
“It was a little high and I chased it,” McNair said of his triple that hit the fence. “I thought it was going over but I just got a hold of it and use my speed to get to third.”
A John Page RBI single later and suddenly it was just a 1-run game heading into the fifth.
It was then that Hunt handed the ball to Josh Malm who went on to throw five shutout innings, issuing just one hit and two walks along the way while striking out Powhatan eight batters.
In the sixth the Mustangs tied things up at 10 with a leadoff walk to Andris, a sacrifice bunt from Decker, a single from Max Mann and a wild pitch to plate Andris. After that it was a battle on the mound between Malm and the Virginia Tech commit in Scherzer who came on in relief for Powhatan.
Scherzer got out of jams in the seventh, and eigth that saw Monticello put runners in scoring position with one out on both occasion but come up empty handed. Malm was sitting on third base with one out in the seventh, but a strikeout and pop fly to the catcher ended that threat. Then with the bases loaded in the eighth Scherzer picked up a pair of strike outs in the eighth.
Malm snuck out of a quandary in the eighth with runners on third and second with two outs and snagging a ground ball and getting it over to first to escape.
“Josh is a big competitor,” Hunt said. “He doesn’t talk much but he competes with everything. He enjoys being able to go out for his teammates and do the job when we need him to do.”
In the tenth after Decker leadoff to get on base on an error and Mann bunted him to second, the Indians intentionally walked McNair to set up a double play situation. John Page then loaded the bases when he was struck by a pitch. Powhatan’s defense got Decker at home on a force at home on a fielders choice. But in the next at bat one more breaking ball worked its way to the back stop and once again McNair took home, this time for the win.
“It’s always about execution,” Hunt said. “This win is a credit to (my players). All I did was touch my arms and legs and tell them what to do. They did a great job tonight.”
Monticello (6-1, 1-0) heads to Charlottesville on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
