Stone Bridge Baseball Is Shattering Records

Dominion's Starting Pitching is Dealing

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Stone Bridge Bulldogs have been nothing short of dominant to start the 2008 season. With a roster loaded with upperclassmen, a powerful senior one-two punch on the mound and an aggressive brand of offense, they stormed out of the gate with eight straight wins and were at the top of the AAA Liberty District standings heading into Friday's matchup with W.T. Woodson.

None of this surprises eighth-year coach Sam Plank, who has watched his team outscore its opponents, 90-18, through 10 games and deliver four shutouts, which is already a single-season school record.

"We basically returned everyone from last year, and the guys worked really hard in the off-season," Plank said. "So I'm not surprised, and I kind of told the team before we started the season that we expect a lot of big things from them. When you have that kind of experience, especially on the mound - I knew we'd pitch and play defense, and hitting is always up and down, but we've got some guys that have had some pretty good years so far."

Pretty good is an understatement. Senior shortstop and cleanup hitter and Mike Stancik is batting .462 with five doubles, seven RBI, 12 runs, 11 walks and already has 11 stolen bases. Junior left fielder Johnny Bladel leads the team with 17 RBI to go along with his two home runs and .438 clip, and No. 8 hitter Matt Irwin is batting .333 with 11 RBI, 11 runs and nine steals.

"I think the key to any good team is having guys in the 7, 8, 9 hole that are hitting too," Plank said. "We've got that. And our catcher, Brian Wheaton, is one of our better hitters and he's hitting around .200, but he's hitting the ball harder than anybody - he's just had the worst luck I've ever seen as a hitter. So once he starts hitting, it's going to be an even bigger bonus."

The torrid start has Stone Bridge (9-1, 3-0 Virginia AAA Liberty District) poised to crush numerous school records at the plate and on the base-paths - where they've already tallied 48 stolen bases and been caught only six times.

"I think what really hurts teams most is that we have so much speed," Plank said. "You have to catch and throw it real quick or we're going to beat it out. With Irwin and Michael Prince and Stancik and Collin Pearson, they can really fly down the base line. It puts a lot of pressure on defenses.

"I told my guys, 'We're going to steal and if they throw us out, we're going to steal again.' We'll run the bases all night long. We've had very few sacrifice bunts this year because we usually just steal on the second or third pitch which is just as good without the out. I think when we go up against the Madisons and Langleys and Woodsons we're going to have to play a little small ball. But we can do that too if we have to."

It's a similar story on the mound where the seniors Tyler Weaver and Tyler Basso are rolling. Combined they're 6-0 with a 1.51 ERA and a 53-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Senior sidearm reliever Mike Palmer is no slouch either with 10 strikeouts and a save in five appearances.

"They had good years as juniors, but they spent the whole summer working out together," Plank said. "The whole thing we talked to them about in the offseason was throwing strikes and making people earn it. If you throw strikes and make teams earn it, with our great defense, it's easy."

The Bulldogs - whose lone loss came last week to non-district foe Thomas Johnson - now find themselves in the thick of their district schedule with back-to-back home games against perennial powers Langley and Madison on Monday and Wednesday.

"There were times last year when they got so tight out there and tense, with white knuckles and they couldn't produce," Plank said. "They know how important every game is because our district is absolutely brutal. Every night you better show up."

Strong Arms Fuel Titans

Heading into this season, Dominion Coach Jay Raines didn't really know what to expect. After posting an 8-6 mark in the Virginia AA Dulles District a year ago, the Titans lost "a pile of seniors" and several questions faced their young squad. First and foremost was pitching.

But if a 6-2 start (2-0 AA Dulles) heading into Friday's home game with Potomac Falls is any indication, pitching should be the least of Dominion's concerns as they hit the meat of the district schedule.

Juniors Chris Taylor and Ryan Skeffington and senior Geoff McCowat have turned in multiple strong performances, honing in on the strike zone and working ahead of batters to give the offense an opportunity to win games.

Taylor (2-1), the brother of last year's first team All-District third baseman Jordan, flashed his potential at times last year but used the off-season to polish up his delivery and Raines couldn't be more pleased with the results. In 21 innings, Taylor has 27 strikeouts and only three walks.

"Last year he had decent velocity and had some good outings but with aluminum bats, even if hitters don't make solid contact they can knock you around a little bit," the fifth-year coach said. "This season he's showed much better control and he's working his fastball in and out with some off-speed stuff mixed in to freeze hitters up. He's very competitive and I think with him on the mound, he gives us a chance every game."

Just behind Taylor in the rotation is McCowat (1-1), a big righty who turned in the most impressive outing off the season with 20 strikeouts in a 7-0 shutout of Gar-Field on March 18. He recently returned to the lineup after missing two weeks with an infection but his 25-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio could make him a reliable second starter the rest of the way.

"If Chris is our No. 1, I'm hoping Geoff can be another No. 1 or a very strong No. 2," Raines said. "He's another real bulldog out there for us and it's really nice to have that one-two punch. He had that phenomenal performance to start the season and now that he's back, I think he has the capabilities to have some more."

With Skeffington (2-0), who Raines describes as "sneaky fast," available to start or come out of the bullpen tossing his bread-and-butter curveball, Dominion could have one of the best staffs in the district, provided they stay consistent and healthy.

They'll need all three to show up next week when they play three road games in four days against Heritage, Loudoun County and Broad Run.

"It's a great luxury to have guys who can keep you in games," Raines said. "These guys are going out and making quality starts every time out. They're going deep in ballgames so we don't have to go to our bullpen early and switch three people around in the field every game. They're not walking people and they're learning to recover and that's huge for us. We're not going to score a ton of runs, so having pitchers that can keep us in games is key."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks