By Drew Goodman / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
After batting around .430 for the bulk of the season, Fluvanna baseball standout Kevin Ward cooled off for a few games.
He remained dominant from the mound as part of the Flucos’ brigade of talented pitchers, but the confident slugger was eager to regain his hitting prowess as soon as possible.
After a perfect outing from on Thursday night against Monticello, it is clear that the mini-slump was a mere aberration.
Fresh off pitching a complete game on Tuesday against Louisa, Ward blasted five hits and knocked in a trio of runs in Fluvanna’s 11-0 shutout of MHS.
Ward began Thursday’s contest with a deep shot to centerfield, but the excitement was short-lived. With a pair of runners rounding the bases, in what looked to be at least one run tallied, the Mustangs gunned down lead-off hitter Mason Gross at home to preserve the scoreless inning.
The heads-up play at the plate was about the only thing that did not go Ward or the Flucos’ way in Thursday’s blowout.
Ward helped jump start a big third inning with a powerful single, and the success continued from there.
The junior later added a double, a two-RBI double, and a two-RBI single to help his team cruise to an easy win.
“I felt good about my swing tonight,” Ward said. “I’ve been working on it throughout the week and coming into this game thinking that I was going to hit the ball every time that I got up, and just felt confident out there.”
Ward’s third inning-single began the offensive onslaught for Fluvanna.
After Andrew Ward drove home Jacob Critzer on a fielder’s choice, Cameron Shields notched an RBI-double to bring in Kevin Ward.
Shields completed the scoring in the third, and Fluvanna opened up a 3-0 lead as the rain began to fall at Monticello High School.
Fluvanna nearly batted around in the third, as five Flucos reached base, and all eight batters made contact with the ball during the frame.
“We had adjusted to pitching speed and realized that we hadn’t hit the fast ball,” said Fluvanna County head coach Joel Gray of the success in the third inning. “We were having a lot more success when we were swinging the bat obviously, and hitting is contagious… When one guy starts to hit, it starts to pick up everywhere.”
The Flucos later piled on multiple runs in both the fifth and seventh innings to reach double digits for the fifth time this season.
While Kevin Ward was the star behind the plate, his brother, Andrew pitched four scoreless innings and allowed just one Mustang runner to reach scoring position. Ward struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth prior to exiting the game on defense.
As a team, the Monticello pitching staff struck out 10 batters.
The Mustangs could not string together many hits in Thursday night’s loss.
Already trailing 7-0, MHS began the sixth inning with back-to-back singles by Grayson Bush and Cam Critzer respectively, but a base running error and a pair of ground ups put an end to any threat.
Monticello will travel to Albemarle on April 30, while the the Flucos return home Tuesday night as well for a game that they have been looking forward to for several weeks.
The Flucos will next battle Orange County, who handed FCHS its only Jefferson District loss of the season back on March 28.
Fluvanna has won eight straight since suffering the one-run setback to OC, and Gray is excited for another crack at the nearby rivals.
“They were one of two teams to beat us this year,” Gray said. “Our two runs were one-run losses… We kind of let that one get away from us. We blew a 5-1 lead, so there’s going to be a little revenge motivation for us.”
