Louisa takes pitchers’ duel

By Ryan Yemen Daily Progress correspondent
Published: April 2, 2008

Nothing makes a baseball team happier than watching their pitcher throw a complete-game shutout.
Such was the case for Louisa County on Wednesday night. The Lions watched starting pitcher Gunnar Carroll lead the way to a 2-0 victory over Western Albemarle.
“Gunnar threw the ball as well as we could ask,” said Lions coach Kevin Fisher. “He put us on his back.”
Carroll came out of the gate strong, retiring 14 of the first 17 batters he faced.
“I’m glad I was hitting my spots all night,” Carroll said. “I was throwing mostly fastballs, trying to work in and out.”
The Louisa hurler gave up just five hits and a walk while striking out six.
“You can feel it in the game,” Carroll said of retiring 11 consecutive batters between the third and sixth innings. “You get into a little bit of a rhythm and starting striking guys out. It feels real good.”
It wasn’t exactly an easy win for the Lions (7-1, 2-0 Jefferson District). In both the sixth and seventh innings, the Warriors managed to put runners on second and third with one out.
However, the Warriors (2-3, 1-1) squandered both scoring opportunities.
“We got lucky in the end,” Fisher said. “We were able to shut the door, thankfully. We’ll take a win any way we can get it.”
Western committed a serious base-running blunder in the sixth by getting into an inning-ending rundown. In the seventh, Western couldn’t get the ball out of the infield, leaving two runners in scoring position stranded.
“I thought we shot ourselves in the foot there at the end,” said Western coach Skip Hudgins. “We couldn’t come up with the big play, or the big hit, and we ran ourselves out there in the sixth.”
Fisher shares Hudgins feelings. Louisa struggled along the basepaths. The Lions were caught twice trying to stretch doubles into triples.
“You’ve got to give Western credit for throwing us out, but we’ve got to run the bases better than we did tonight,” Fisher said.
As has been the case for much of the season, the Louisa offense was led by third baseman Dylan Szalankiewicz, who went 2 for 4 and drove in Louisa’s only earned run on a double in the top of the third inning.
“With Dylan, it’s just about the leadership he brings,” Fisher said. “He doesn’t say a lot, but he plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
Wade Hughes pitched an outstanding game for Warriors. He gave up just one earned run while giving the bullpen the night off by throwing all seven innings.
“Wade pitched real well, and he has all season,” Hudgins said. “He’s given up just one earned run this year. We’re very pleased with the way he threw the ball.”
While disappointed by the loss, Hudgins was pleased that his team was just a few plays away.
“We’re going to be pretty good before it’s all said and done,” Hudgins said. “We’re disappointed that we lost, but we had our opportunities. All in all I’m not the least bit discouraged.”
Louisa hosts Monticello at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Western visits William Monroe on Friday at 5 p.m.
St. Anne’s-Belfield 10, Avalon 0
Kyle Long, a Florida State signee and likely high-round draft choice in the upcoming MLB Draft, only faced 15 batters in Wednesday’s matchup with visiting Avalon.
The 6-foot-7 lefthander threw a no-hitter while striking out 11 batters as STAB (3-0) trounced Avalon 10-0.
Kevin White was 2 for 2 with a homerun, a triple, three RBI and three runs scored for St. Anne’s-Belfield.
Next up for STAB is a matchup at Fork Union on Friday at 4 p.m.