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Boys Varsity Baseball Spring 2010
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Game Summaries & Headlines

BOYS VARSITY BASEBALL VS. WESTFIELD HS

Date Posted: May 29, 2010
Game Date: May 28, 2010

Score:
CAVALIERS: 5
WESTFIELD HIGH: 3

In the opening game of the regional tournament Woodson overcame Westfield's starter Danny Thorpe and a few tough calls to defeat the Westfield Bulldogs 5-3. Buoyed by the energetic and loud Cavalier faithful, Woodson successfully avenged their elimination from last year’s regional tournament on the same field. Connor Reilly came up huge in the clutch hitting a 2 out grand slam in the 5th inning. Meanwhile the steady, reliable Bryson Hough held Westfield's offense in check for the full 7 innings helped along by several stellar defensive plays at second base by Ryan Lluy. With the win, Woodson advances on to play McLean on Monday at 4pm at Oakton High School.

As the visiting team, Woodson showed early that they were ready to do battle. Connor Finnerty and Matt Patrick hit back-to-back two out singles but Thorpe notched a pop out to shallow right for the third out. Hough set down the Bulldogs in order in an inning which included the first of Lluy's outstanding defensive plays as he made a diving backhand stop of a sharply hit grounder by Aaron Hoover.

John McGillicuddy gave Woodson the lead in the 2nd driving a 2-2 pitch from Thorpe over the center field fence. Hough allowed a two out double by John Luatua but stranded him there by getting Wade Arduini to ground out to third.

In the 3rd, Colin Dempsey and Connor Finnerty drew walks then with one out the Westfield middle infield turned Patrick's grounder into a double play on a very close call at first to end the threat.

In the bottom of the inning things got quite interesting as Westfield’s Danny Bulas got a 1 out double then leadoff hitter Kyle Corwin singled.  The next batter, Hoover, hit a hard, low liner that clearly hit Corwin's foot.  An umpire conference ensued followed by a conference with both coaches but the ruling went against Woodson and the bases were loaded. What followed was a single by Ferington and an error on the relay of a potential double play ball and Westfield had a 3-1 lead.

The Cavs started another two out rally in the top of the 4th. David Rozner singled up the middle. Lluy advanced Rozner to second with a single to right center. With Ryan Fitzgerald at the plate, Bulldogs catcher Ferrington caught Rozner straying off second and he was called out yet another very close play. But none of this would ultimately matter as Hough had gotten in a groove and it was just a matter of time before the Woodson offense would rally.
After Hough set down the bottom of the Westfield lineup in order, it was the top of the Cavaliers order that made things happen. Dempsey drew a one out walk. After a strikeout of Breslin by Thorpe, Thorpe issued back-to-back walks to Finnerty and Patrick to load the bases. This set the stage for Reilly’s heroics. After fouling off a 2-1 pitch, Reilly slammed Thorpe’s next offering over the fence sending the crowd into a frenzy. For the Woodson players it was a quick dose of elation but then it was right back to business as there remained plenty of baseball left to play,
And play baseball they did. Now with a 5-3 lead, Hough retired the Bulldogs in order again with Corwin lining out to Patrick, Hoover flying out to Finnerty and Scoville smashing a line drive right at Hough who coolly caught it and walked off the mound. 
 
Thorpe retired all three Woodson batters in the 6th by strikeout though Woodson’s Lluy did reach on an error by first baseman Hoover. The Bulldogs were set down on just 8 pitches by Hough in the bottom of the inning.
 
To start the 7th Thorpe needed just 10 pitches to retire the three Cavs batters. The Bulldogs sent pinch hitter Justin Simpson in to face Hough to try to get something started. Simpson did his job singling to left. That brought to the plate Austin Redman who battled Hough for nine pitches before eventually succumbing by striking out on the 10th pitch. Hough then got ahead of Bulas 1-2. On the next pitch Bulas hit a hard liner to Lluy who caught it then easily flipped over to Patrick at first to nab Simpson for a game ending double play.