It wasn’t one miscue that sunk Madison County or lifted Orange County. In fact between the two teams, the trade in errors and mistakes was about even, but one team had a more explosive night at the plate. When the Hornets loaded the bases shortly after what looked like a sure fire double play, the visitors found a way to make the Mountaineers suffer for it thanks to a game tying 2-run double from Ryan Hutchison.
“I got up there and was just hyped about trying to help the team win,” Hutchinson said. “It was in slow motion for me up there. I just sat back, dug in and drove the ball.”
It was a big blast in a night where the Hornets had a slew of shots deep in the outfield. Hutchinson’s timely hit was followed by a sacrifice fly from Tyler Seal and an RBI single from Lonnie Dillard. That gave Orange all it needed as it shut the door in the bottom of the seventh for an 11-8 win.
“We’ve been struggling at the plate and had just one hit in our first game, a dribbler down the line, and then tonight the guys worked hard on making the adjustments and coming through,” said Orange coach Joe Morabito. “I thought we played small ball well, ran the bases well and forced them into some mistakes. We’ve still got to work on our pitching, and tonight we went through everybody. That’s how it’s going to go right now, if guys have it, they’ll stay if not we’re going to find someone else. But I’m proud of this team and the win. They fought hard to come back.”
In a game where it was back and forth from start to finish, Madison fought back in the bottom of the sixth, trailing 6-5 to claim the lead. The Mountaineers a single from J.P Utz and a pair of walks, a pair of hit batters and an RBI fielders choice from Travis Warren in a 3-run rally.
“We have got to find a way to finish because we have played two very good baseball games now where we gave it all up in the last inning,” said Madison first year coach David Londrey. “I’m not sure if this is nerves or conditioning, that’s what we’ll talk about tonight, but we just need to finish.”
Orange was up 2-0 after its first two times at the plate thanks to a single from Seal who then took home on a double steal with he and Austin Oliver on the corners in the first inning, and then an RBI triple from Hutchinson in the second.
Madison bounced back in the bottom of second with two runs with a leadoff triple from Utz and an RBI single from Joey Camilluci and then Dylan Berry reaching base after getting plunked in the head, stealing second, moving to third on Camilluci’s single and a passed ball getting him home. It was not the last time the Mountaineers manufactured a run out of nearly nothing on the basepath.
In the top of the third the Hornets took a 3-2 lead on the second of its six extra base hits on the night. After Rahiem Cooper singled and stole second base, Cameron Rickett came through with an RBI double. Once again though, Madison answered back with a pair of runs. Mason Bowman reached first on a strikeout in the dirt, Warren and Colin Tucker singled and Utz and Berry provided the run support and an RBI fielder’s choice and single respectively. Up 4-3, Madison added an usual run in the fifth to go up by two when Warren singled, stole two bases and then took home on a wild pitch.
Yet another lead change came in the top of the fifth thanks to a 3-run rally from Orange. The Hornets got back-to-back singles from Zach Ryder and Hutchison to open the inning up and with two outs Oliver knocked in two runs on a double while Cooper brought in a run on a triple.
The frantic flow of the first five and a half innings set up the wild finish in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh.
On the night, Hutchinson was a homerun short of hitting for the cycle, finish 3 for 4 with three RBI. Cooper was 4 for 5 while Ryder was 2 for 3, Mitchell King was 2 for 4 and Rickett was 2 for 5.
For Madison, Warren finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Tucker was 1 for 3. Utz went 2 for 4 with a pair of runs scored. Berry was 1 for 4 with two runs scored.
Orange (1-1) jumps into Commonwealth District play on Tuesday at Riverbend.
Madison (0-2) travels up to Luray on Friday.
