Draft stays alive

By Cody Clifton Correspondent
Published: May 21, 2008

STUARTS DRAFT — The weather was off and on throughout the evening, but Stuarts Draft was dead on.
Timely hitting, great defense and four shutout innings by Seth Via set the tone for a 12-0 five-inning win over Rockbridge County in the Southern Valley consolation game. The win gave the Cougars a bid in the Region III tournament next week when they will hit the road to face an opponent yet to be named.
Via and the Cougars got off to a shaky start in the first inning. Via plunked the first batter, Tyler Staton, in the head, followed up by a Scott Evans single to put two on and no one out. Via got Wildcats best hitter Nick Balisteri to ground out to the shortstop Jeremy Fitzgerald who stepped on second and threw to first for an easy 6-3 double play.
“What I was impressed of was Seth plunks a guy, the next guy got a hit, and the next thing you know, they have first and second with nobody out,” Stuarts Draft coach Josh Podgorski said. “We turn a double play on their No. 3 guy, who’s batting over .500. I said, ‘Guys, you just took the wind out of their sails, lets take the spirit out of their heart’.”
The Cougars let the Cats know that the top of the first was not a fluke when they stepped up to bat in the bottom half of the inning. Fitzgerald and Mickie Holbert singled in consecutive at bats then, after a Zac Marion strikeout, Via doubled to the fence in left centerfield scoring the first two runs of the game.
Three pitching miscues, two walks and a hit batsman, loaded up the bases and gave Ricky Dimitt an easy RBI as he walked down to first. A sacrifice fly by Stephen Showalter plated another Cougar. Jon Trice hit a bloop single over the head of third baseman Ryan Miller to score Cole Beyeler from third.
RBI became a trend for the Cougars in the first when it took an RBI double to end the inning. Fitzgerald, batting for the second time in the inning, stroked a double down the third base line scoring Dimitt. Zack Keen threw the ball in from left field to the shortstop Balisteri who gunned down Trice at home to end the inning with the Cougars holding a 6-0 lead.
“They have a good team,” Podgorski said. “Big innings. I guess it happens for any team. We just hit the ball well tonight. This was probably the most solid contact we have made all year.”
Via continued to quiet the Wildcat bats through the next three innings. The defense helped out in the second and third, when the Cougars got out of each inning on 6-4-3 and 5-4-3 double plays, respectively.
New Rockbridge pitcher, Rylen Newcomb managed to allow only one run to cross the plate until the fourth inning when the Cougars clawed away another five runs.
A leadoff triple to the fence by Zac Marion set the tone in the fourth, as the next three Cougars and seven of the next eight would reach base. Another Rockbridge pitching change finally put a halt to the damage, as Brady Saunders was able to strike out the final two Cougar batters to get out of the inning.
The Cougars rewarded Via for his hard work by bringing in Holbert to pitch the fifth inning. Holbert struck out the first two hitters before allowing a single, only to have Wildcat Jarrett Harlow ground out to first to end the game.