By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area
*Click links to photo and video galleries at the top-left, above the first video*
The Bulldogs allowed the Chargers to get out in front on Monday, but kept the visitors on a short-enough leash to claw back late.
No. 3 Chantilly routinely filled the bases and — just as methodically — the pitchers for No. 8 Stone Bridge recorded clutch outs to limit the damage.
All in all, the previously unbeaten Chargers left 15 runners on base — more than two per inning — while the Bulldogs optimized offensive opportunities and made an out-of-district statement with a 4-2 home win over the defending Concorde District champions.
“To win big games, you have to get big hits, timely hits,” ninth-year Stone Bridge coach Sam Plank said. “We did a nice job early in the game of really shutting the door on them.”
Added Bulldog pitcher-of-record, senior Ryan Cummings, of working through the inning-by-inning jams: “I thought if I just threw strikes, my defense would back me up. And they did.”
As uncomfortable as the Chargers repeatedly made the Bulldogs’ defensive frames, Cummings returned the favor with a newly-added weapon to his pitching arsenal.
The left-handed set-up man has spent the last two seasons working on a knuckleball. It is an uncommon pitch among high-school hurlers, and almost untouchable if perfected.
Cummings watched a 2-1 deficit turn into a 4-2 lead in his two innings of work, wherein he allowed just one hit and struck out two Chantilly batters, both on knuckleballs.
“It started sophomore year,” he said. “[Coach Sean Griffin] never let me use it until this year — he let me use it in a scrimmage. I guess Coach Plank loved it and Griff is making me use it in games now. It feels great actually.
“It makes me feel like Tim Wakefield, in a way, but left-handed.”
Added Plank: “He’s a great guy to bring in to after a guy that throws hard. He’s got great movement on his two-seam [fastball], throws a knuckleball and a change-up. And he’s been effective every time we’ve used him this year.
“I had to watch the knuckleball a couple times before I let him throw it in a game. We let him throw it in a scrimmage and no one was touching it. I was like, ‘Hey, let’s do it.'”
With the Bulldog bats, efficiency was the name of the game.
Stone Bridge manufactured almost every possible run, leaving just four total runners on base in six offensive innings — compared to the 15 base runners that Chantilly stranded.
Even though Charger left-handed starter Jordan Johnson struck out six and walked none in five and two-thirds innings pitched, the Bulldogs scored four runs, three earned, off the ace.
Stone Bridge sophomore designated hitter J.J. White found particular success, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and an insurance run scored in the sixth inning.
“He’s probably gotten about five or six doubles this year,” said Plank of White. “For a sophomore, that’s big. He got a lot of varsity at-bats as a freshman, so J.J.’s a really good hitter.
“There’s a lot of return to see in him in the next couple years.”
Added White, who is hitting .467 through five games: “I was just trying to react to the pitches. [Johnson] is a really good pitcher and he has a really good change-up. I was just trying to react and so was everyone else.”
GAME NOTE: At Stone Bridge on Monday, 4-2 was the lucky margin. Not only did the baseball team hand Chantilly its first loss of the season, but the softball team beat defending AA state champion Broad Run, 4-2, to snap a 61-game winning streak. The Spartans finished last season ranked No. 1 nationally and had won 87 of their last 88 games entering Monday’s meeting with the Bulldogs.
Chantilly 010 100 0 — 2 9 1
Stone Bridge 010 021 0 — 4 9 3
Pitchers:
CH – Johnson (L) – 5.2 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 0 BB
CH – Boyle – .1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 K, 0 BB
SB – Lambke – 4 IP, 6 H, ER, 6 K, 4 BB
SB – Cummings (W) – 2 IP, 0 ER, H, 2 K, 3 BB
SB – Bladel (S) – IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 0 BB
Notable Batters:
CH – Bollinger – 2-2, 2B, RBI, R, 2 BB
CH – Jo. Danehower – 2-4, BB, SB
CH – McGrath – 2-3, 2B, R, BB, K
CH – Kralles – 1-2
SB – White – 3-3, 2 2B
SB – Lambke – 1-2, 3B, 2 RBI
SB – Prince – 2-3, RBI, K
SB – Rositano – 1-3, RBI, R
SB – Williams – 1-2, 2B, R
*For a photo gallery from photographer Tom Lighton from the game … click here*
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