Lake Braddock Baseball Comes up Short in Patriot Finals

The only public school to beat Lake Braddock this season beat the Bruins again Monday night in the finals of the Patriot District playoffs.

South County rallied from a 3-1 deficit with four runs in the bottom of the sixth off started and co-district player of the year Kenny Towns.

Towns had given up just two hits over the first five innings but allowed three hits and a walk in the decisive sixth. The loss drops Lake Braddock to 18-4 while South County moved to 22-0. The Stallions will host McLean Friday night in the Class AAA Northern Region tournament opener, while Langley will travel to Lake Braddock.

“We had two high school teams that played a really good game today,” said coach Jody Rutherford as a disappointed Bruins squad gathered its gear while South County celebrated.

Lake Braddock is the third-ranked team in the D.C. area according to the Washington Post, and it’s not unreasonable to think they have a solid shot at reaching the state tournament, especially with Towns on the mound.

“It wasn’t his best outing of the year, but he competed every pitch of the way,” Rutherford said. “He got us out of some big jams.”

Towns took the loss, going 5 2/3 innings while allowing five runs on four hits and five walks.  He struck out five and pushed through a couple of tight situations, including a one-out, bases-loaded situation in the third inning. He induced a pop-up and a fielder’s choice from South County’s clean-up and No. 5 hitters Mike Perez and Tyler Frazier to get out of the inning after allowing just one run.

The Bruins took their only lead of the game in the top of the sixth when South County’s own star pitcher Evan Beal got into trouble with the heart of the order at bat. Andrew Weidinger led off with a single and moved to second on a hit-and-run play. Michael Quinteros advanced the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt before Garrett Driscoll’s grounder scored Weidinger and a passed ball by Perez allowed Ryan Owens to cross the plate. Beal got out of the inning one batter later when he covered first to record the out on a grounder to first by Dylan O’Connor.

South County made it 3-2 with a single from Cameron Thompson with two out in the bottom of the frame and Mike Egbert worked a walk, bringing up Blake Thompson. Thompson, the Stallions’ No. 9 hitter, said he was nervous facing Towns.

“I’m trying to get the foot down early and make sure I make contact with the ball,” Thompson said about his approach to hitting against Towns. “With his velocity, if you get it on the fat part of the bat, it’s going to go hard. You’re just trying to square it up.”

The junior left fielder, a left-handed batter, sliced a line-drive into left-center. Lake Braddock outfielder Thomas Rogers chased hard, looking to catch the ball and end the inning.

But as he committed to the ball in left-center, the ball began to spin towards the left-field line. As Rogers tried to stop, his feet went out from under him and the ball rolled to the fence.  Cameron Thompson and Matt Devore scored on the play.  Moments later, Stallions leadoff man Andrew Rector laced a ball that landed at the base of the center-field fence, scoring Blake Thompson from second to make it 5-3.

Beal labored, but worked through a two-out, bases-loaded situation in the top of the seventh to secure the win for South County.

What’s next for the Bruins, who prep for upstart Langley, a team that got hot in the playoffs after suffering a long regular-season losing streak?

“We’ll probably take a day off tomorrow, get ready to go Wednesday and Thursday,” Rutherford said. “We think we’re very capable of coming out and winning a regional championship.”

The Saxons knocked off Thomas Jefferson, Fairfax and top-seed Stone Bridge in the district tournament after suffering through a midseason cold spell that resulted in eight losses in nine games.

Madison coach Mark Gjormand, whose Warhawks downed the Saxons 8-7 in the Liberty District championship game Monday night, said the Saxons “aren’t a team you want to face right now.”

“We were up 8-2,” he said. “They’re a hot team that’s trying to build something.”