Generals take 1-0 lead

By Doug Layman Correspondent
Published: July 29, 2008

Surrounded by a chorus of “A-Mo” chants from the stands, Austin Morgan strode to the plate. 
Two pitches later, it was all grins and high-fives for the Waynesboro Generals catcher and more chants from the crowd.
Morgan’s eighth-inning, two-run homer broke a 1-1 tie and lifted the Valley Baseball League’s top seed to a 4-1 win over Haymarket in the best-of-three VBL playoff series at Kate Collins Field Tuesday.
“[Haymarket pitcher Ben Hildreth] had been throwing me off-speed stuff all night,” Morgan said.  “I was just looking for something to drive.”
Morgan blasted the 1-0 change-up to the top of the pines in deep left and chased Hildreth, who had given up just two hits before entering the eighth.
But if not for an eye-opening pitching performance by Pitt-Johnstown freshman Kaleb Fleck, Morgan’s shot may not have had the same consequence.
Fleck sprinted to the mound in relief of General’s ace Adam Liberatore with one out and two on in the seventh and promptly mowed down the Senator’s Chris Haynes and Scott Krieger on strikeouts to maintain the 1-1 deadlock.
“I’ve been coming in to pitch in this kind of situation all year,” Fleck said.  “My fastball got me through like it has all year.  It’s just a mind set that you have to have that you’re not giving in to a hitter.”
Fleck breezed through the eighth and struck out the side in the ninth to pick up his first VBL win of the year.
Waynesboro leads the first-round series 1-0 and will travel to Haymarket today with a chance to advance to Round 2 with a win.
Liberatore and Hildreth were in a pitching duel through six innings and neither allowed much offense.
The Senators drew first blood with a quick run in the first as Krieger coaxed a two-out walk and George Mason team-mate Ryan Soares followed with an RBI-triple.
But Waynesboro answered in the bottom of the second.
Ryan Adams drew his first of three walks on the night and scampered to second on a wild pitch. Evan Webb reached base on a throwing error by Haymarket third baseman Doc Neiman.  Both runners then advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Derek Hamblen.
With one out, Grant Buckner hit a fielder’s choice grounder to third to plate Adams.
The offenses chilled through the middle innings as both pitchers delivered more than 100 pitches and relied on good defense to keep things close.
Haymarket was the first to awake as Dustin Johnson and Wayne Miller delivered back-to-back, one-out singles to open the seventh.
But Fleck slammed the door on the rally with the two strikeouts.  He finished with six K’s on the night, walked one and didn’t allow a hit in 2.3 innings of relief.
Waynesboro’s Liberatore — looking for his seventh win against no losses — pitched well, giving up just five hits in six innings.
“Lib pitched a great game,” Waynesboro coach Lawrence Nesselrodt said.  “Not to figure in the decision was tough.  And Fleck was equally as effective in relief.”
Nesselrodt also praised the Haymarket pitcher.
“[Hildreth] was on my recruiting list a couple of years ago when he pitched for [Vanderbilt],” he said.  “We couldn’t get anything going offensively against him.  He located his fastball well and kept us off guard.”
But Nesselrodt said it was the small things — some that go unnoticed — that won this game.
“Mark Dvoroznak laid down a great bunt in the eighth inning, but he made an even better play when he didn’t get doubled up on [Brandon Sizemore’s] grounder,” he said.  “It’s a whole different scenario with a runner on second and one out than it is with two outs and the bases empty.  A double play would have made it a whole different scenario — it may have ended the inning for us.
“How many people remembered Dvoroznak’s play?” he said.  “This is a game of momentum — a double play ends it, a great bunt and great base running saved us.  It’s the little things that win baseball games.”
Morgan’s second homer of the season and three innings of hitless relief by Fleck didn’t hurt either.