Bladel K's 9, Tosses No-Hitter In 10-0 Victory
The Stone Bridge Bulldogs redeemed themselves in a big way against the visiting Marshall Statesmen on Tuesday evening. After being shut-out by Marshall earlier in the season 11-0, Stone Bridge returned the favor this time around shutting them out in 5 innings 10-0...
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Stone Bridge's Spenser Rositano helped the Bulldog's offensive attack against Marshall with a single and RBI in the 4th inning. With the win, the Bulldogs move to 8-3 in the Liberty District...
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Although Marshall's bats were held quite on Tuesday evening, several Statesmen put up valiant efforts to get something going offensively against the Bulldog's. After shutting down Stone Bridge earlier in the season, the Bulldogs' returned the favor on Tuesday evening...
Photo By: Marc Gold / Gameday Magazine | VIEW GALLERY
ASHBURN, VA - A few weeks ago, Marshall put it to Stone Bridge with an 11-0 drubbing. The win for the Statesman wasn't expected primarily because the Bulldogs had just beaten highly ranked Chantilly the night before. On Tuesday, Stone Bridge returned the favor with a 10-0 mercy rule win in the second meeting between the two clubs.
Senior Johnny Bladel led the Bulldogs on the mound with an impressive performance. Bladel threw a no-hitter, striking out 9 in the win. From the get-go, it appeared Bladel was not going to be touched. He struck out the first 3 hitters of the game for Marshall, and then continued his dominance the rest of the way.
Stone Bridge got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Bladel singled up the middle to score teammate Michael Prince from second. The hit was with two outs, and Prince set the opportunity up by stealing second. Stone Bridge took a 1-0 lead, and then added to it one inning later.
Sophomore catcher J.J White led off the 4th with a walk, and then his pinch runner Ryan Cummings scored on an inside the park homerun by senior Taylor Lambke. Lambke pelted a fastball to straight away centerfield, and when Marshall's Mitch McKeith fell down trying to make the catch over his shoulder, he scored easily to give Stone Bridge a 3-0 lead.
Still with nobody out, Stone Bridge's Michael Mattingly was hit by a pitch, and shortly after scored on a triple by senior Patrick Thompson. Thompson's towering fly ball hit the base of the outfield wall in left center, and the Bulldogs led 4-0. Designated hitter Dillon Berger was then hit by a pitch, which put runners on 1st and 3rd for the Bulldogs with no outs. Pat Piccolo then grounded back to the pitcher for the first out of the inning.
Just as it appeared Marshall would get out of the jam, Spenser Rositano belted a fastball to right field that scored Thompson and Berger to make the score 6-0.
Prince was hit by pitcher Trey Thomas, and Bladel was then walked to once again load the bases with one out. White then hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Rositano to take the score to 7-0.
Lambke, hitting for the second time in the inning, then belted a double to the left center field gap that scored both runners, and the Bulldogs led 9-0 before Marshall finally got out of the inning.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Bulldogs forced the mercy rule when T.J O'Neal crossed the plate on a Kevin Schofield single to center.
With the 10-0 win, the Bulldogs improved to 12-4 on the season, and kept pace with Madison and Langley in the fight for second place in the Liberty District.
Bladel, who threw 43 strikes and only 15 balls on the evening, registered the first no-hitter in 4 years for the Bulldogs. The last Stone Bridge pitcher to accomplish the feat was Tony Mazur. After the game, Bladel said he was feeling good right from the beginning on the hill.
"I just went out there and threw strikes," Bladel said. "They put a few balls into play, and I got a lot of strike-outs, got ahead of guys, no walks, so that helps a lot. The guys got it done offensively too."
The senior has been one of the most pleasant surprises for the Bulldogs this season with his performance on the mound. Bladel will head to JMU to play for the Dukes next year, and he might have done enough to convince his future coaches that he can help them in their bullpen.
"My coach (JMU) came out to the McLean game last week, and we were talking during the delay, and they were talking about me being a 7th, 8th inning type of guy down the road," Bladel said.
Bladel put some long hours in during the off-season working on his pitching, and the hard throwing right-hander said it has paid off.
"I've been really driving off the mound, and I used to not do that. My dad said to let my legs do it, and over the winter I really worked on it," Bladel said.
Stone Bridge will return to action on Friday when they travel to play Woodson in another crucial Liberty District contest.
BEST BUY PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
Johnny Bladel - Pitcher (Stone Bridge)
Bladel had a career night on the mound, registering 9 strikeouts and tossing a no-hitter. He had a perfect game working late in the 4th inning, but a passed ball on a strike out allowed Marshall's Jake Bennett to reach first on the error. Bladel also finished 1 for 1 with an RBI in the game.
Taylor Lambke - 3rd Baseman (Stone Bridge)
The game was close in the 4th inning until Lambke crushed a fastball to dead center that got over the centerfielder's head. Lambke nearly caught Ryan Cummings on the play rounding second, and followed him in for a stand-up inside the park homerun. He later doubled in two more runs to finish the night with 4 RBI's.
