Colgan tops Battlefield in extra innings

In what was primarily a pitchers' duel for seven innings, Colgan's patience at the plate came through in the nick of time.

Jae’dan Carter hit his first home run of the season on the second pitch he saw and scored the winning run via a bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday as the Sharks secured an early-season home win, 3-2, over Battlefield.

In the second game of the year for Colgan (2-0) and the opener for the Bobcats, the showdown between two of Prince William County's premier baseball programs was a rematch of last year’s Region B semifinal, won by Colgan 3-0; Friday’s game began simply enough for Colgan.

After the Battlefield half of the first ended with a 1-6-3 double play, Carter turned around the 0-1 delivery from Bobcats starter Andrew Hitt and launched a towering drive deep to left-center field which put Colgan up 1-0.

Battlefield led 2-1 after the top of the second; Joey Swekosky led off the inning with a double and Nikolas Blaylock's line drive to left-center field tied the game on the next pitch.

Blaylock would score when Jayden Terry grounded out to second on a fielder's choice. Colgan tied the game again in the bottom half via a sacrifice fly from Marsden Zajac, who scored Julius Bagnerise after the latter recorded a leadoff double of his own.

"Obviously, we know those guys well and they know us well," said Colgan associate head coach Vince Natale.

Natale spoke on behalf of Sharks coach Mike Colangelo, who had his team run sprints for upwards of 10 minutes after the game followed by an extended team meeting in shallow left that lasted for another 15 minutes or more. "We made some baserunning mistakes today, so it's [conditioning] what we do when that happens, but it was a good win."

We think we're probably taking too many pitches throughout the game, but in that last inning it paid off. Their guys struggled to find the zone there, and it worked out."

In the bottom of the eighth, Battlefield senior Carson Cho took the mound against the top of the Colgan order which included Carter, a catcher who's signed with Dayton, leading off ahead of a pair of future Virginia Tech Hokies: Matthew Westley and Brett Renfrow.

Carter walked on a full count and Westley moved him over to second with a perfectly-executed bunt to third base; Renfrow walked on five pitches before Battlefield coach Jay Burkhart called for the intentional walk, loading the bases with one out for Tyler Bassett.

On a 3-1 count, Cho’s struggles with command came to a head. Well above the strike zone, Cho’s delivery was out of the reach of catcher J.P. Williams, who could only watch as it sailed toward the backstop and Carter dashed home to lock up the win.

Burkhart lamented his offense’s lack of timing, highlighted by their 14 strikeouts, and aggressive approach at the plate when manufacturing runs may have been the more prudent decision.

“They’re one of the better teams in the state of Virginia, and, to take them in the extra innings this early in the year. I'm proud of the way we played,” Burkhart said. “I think being this early in the season, hitters are behind pitching, and then they see velocity like that with a good breaking ball, that kind of kept us on our heels.

“We kind of got out of our element and started swinging for the fences and we can't do that this early.”

Bassett earned the win in relief, throwing five strikeouts with no walks over the final three innings.