Luhmann's RBI Single Lifts Spartans To 3-1 Win
ASHBURN, VA - The Park View Patriots drove into Ashburn Friday night to try and get back on the winning track, and climb back into the Dulles District race, and they had the Broad Run Spartans in their sites...a team that found themselves a bit wounded after a tough loss earlier in the week...and a team they could possibly catch in a downturn...
Historically, regardless of records and accolades, you can usually expect a game between these 2 Dulles District baseball foes to be played close to the end. Friday was no exception.
For the 1st 3 innings at Spartan Field, both teams couldn't seem to take advantage of the other, as Patriot pitcher Jonathan Mason, and little used Spartan hurler J.P. Devlin, making only his 2nd varsity start, kept their opponents at bay, mixing off-speed pitches, and locating their ball effectively. In the end, it was the Spartans that took advantage by getting timely hits, albeit few, in the right situations.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, with the scores still at 0 runs apiece, Broad Run lead-off hitter, Andrew Mann, laced a single up the middle, just over the out-stretched reach of Mason. Mann advanced to 2nd on a stolen base following a fly out, After 1st baseman Ryan Diviney was hit by a pitch, catcher Tommy Meier hit into an apparent double play, but the Patriot's couldn't convert, and Mann never stopped running, and came across for the 1st run of the game. After another fly out to end the inning, the Spartans had the advantage, 1-0.
After a scoreless 4th, the Patriot faithful in attendance finally were able to get their fandom up, as it seemed Devlin was starting to run out of gas. Senior 2nd baseman Adam Foltz led off with a 4 pitch walk, and promptly moved to 2nd on a nice sacrifice bunt by LF Zach Anderegg. CF Drew Mason followed suit with another base on balls, and 1st baseman Jimmy Kerby drove the 2nd pitch he saw into left field to score Foltz, and tie the game at 1-1. After a fly out, SS Billy Bradley was able to get a hard single through the left side of the infield to load the bases. But the threat ended there, as Devlin was able to get Ben Rosado to fly out for the 3rd out. The Spartans were not able to answer in their half of the 5th, and the score remained the same until the bottom of the 6th inning.
In a scary play, Meier led off with a blistering liner, right at Mason, who got his glove up in time to avert being hit, and recovered in time to get the out at 1st base. Senior 1st baseman Cole Shain followed with another sharp line drive up the middle, this time just over the head of Mason, and yielded to speedy pinch-runner Billy Rocca. Pinch hitter, Shane Vlasic, followed with a hard liner down the 3rd base line, that Rosado made a nice play on to save a run, but wasn't able to recover to get the advancing runners. After Mason struck out the next batter to record the 2nd out, senior LF Adam Luhmann flared a single to right field, and Rocca scored the go ahead run, and Vlasic and Luhmann advanced to 2nd and 3rd on the play at the plate. SS Chris Jessop then drove the 1st pitch he saw to deep right\center field, that CF Drew Mason couldn't handle in the tough gusting winds, allowing Vlasic to come across for the 2nd run of the inning, and Luhmann tried to add to the total, but was gunned down at the plate on a textbook relay to catcher Dylan Smith, who blocked the plate and tagged out Luhmann for the final out.
The extended inning seemed to breathe a bit of life into Devlin, as he came out to try and finish the game in the top of the 7th, and he quickly struck out the 1st Patriots he faced. But a double to right\center field by Adam Flees, and a base on balls to Bradley quickly brought coach Pat Cassidy out to make the pitching change, bringing in the lefty, Shain, who retired Rosado on a ground out to end the threat, and the game, 3-1.
In only his 2nd start of his varsity career, J.P. Devlin pitched a very efficient game, spotting his pitches well, allowing only 3 hits, striking out 3, and walking 3. Park View's Jonathan Mason also pitched well enough to win, in possibly a different set of circumstances, but the luck was with the Spartans on this night. Mason allowed 5 hits, striking out 4, and walking only 1 Broad Run batter. Defensively, each team committed 2 errors on the night.
With the win, the Spartans run their record to 9-2, 3-1 in Dulles play. The Patriots fall to 4-5 overall, and 1-3 in the District. Both teams are back in action on Tuesday, April 15th, at 6:00 pm. Park View will try and get back on the winning track, as they host Briar Woods. Broad Run will travel to Potomac Falls to try and retake a share of the Dulles lead, in a game broadcast live, worldwide, on the Gameday Radio Network. The Pregame show begins at 5:45.
Chick-Fil-A Player of the Game
Adam Luhmann - Senior OF, Broad Run Spartans
Luhmann finished the night going 2-2 at the plate, with a single and a double, adding 1 walk, and notched the game winning RBI in the Spartan 6th inning.
