Panthers Rip Dominion, Set Stage for Friday at Broad Run

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

One night after battling it out in a nine-inning pitchers' duel, Dominion and Potomac Falls were back on the diamond Tuesday night in Sterling for another key matchup in the Dulles District race. And while offense was at a premium Monday, the Panthers broke out the bats at home in the rematch, roughing up the Titans' bullpen and sweeping the season series with a 12-4 victory.

Junior starter Austin Behr kept Dominion in the game through four innings, allowing three runs on three hits. Only one of the runs was earned, but the right-hander threw three pitches in the dirt that got past junior catcher Jonathan Knight and led to two of the three runs. The defensive miscues continued to pile up for the visiting Titans and Potomac Falls came alive at the plate in the later innings to blow the game open.

"We're not a team that's where Potomac Falls is at," Dominion coach Jay Raines said. "We proved that we can play with them last night, but we don't know how to face adversity. We're all right and then as soon as the game gets close at the end when we're playing a good team, they find a way to tighten up and don't want to play the game."

With a 3-1 lead in the bottom of 5th, junior third baseman Rob Malan smashed a Ryan Skeffington fastball to the wall in right center for a triple. But the relay throw to third was in the dirt and skipped into foul territory and out of play and Malan was awarded home plate. Following a Greg Woodlief single and stolen base, senior first baseman Aaron Sweger hit an RBI single into left field. Two pitches later he scored on another pitch that got past Knight to the backstop and the Panthers led 6-1.

Dominion (11-7, 7-5 AA Dulles) battled back in the top of the 6th, taking advantage of a walk, an error and a costly hit batsman. After Greg Smucker reached on an error to start the frame, centerfielder Matt Sherrill followed with a double off Potomac Falls junior starter Michael Detaranto to put runners on second and third with no outs. After Detaranto walked designated hitter Anthony Bartolotti to load the bases, Panthers' coach Joe Terango handed the ball to Malan to get his team out of the jam.

Photo: Matt Brooks

Potomac Falls' Patrick Nightingale waits for a pitch from Dominion's Austin Behr.

With no outs and the bases loaded, Malan struck out the first two batters he faced and it appeared he would escape the inning with no damage. But a 1-2 fastball to Jonathan Noro was too far inside and just clipped the senior shortstop's shirt, allowing Smucker to score from third and prolong the inning. The Titans capitalized when Steve Smucker stepped to the plate and hammered a two-strike fastball to deep center, plating Sherrill and Bartolotti and closing the gap to 6-4.

But the Panthers (13-5, 10-2) stormed back in the bottom half of the inning, sending 11 men to the plate and putting the game well out of reach. Freshman Ryan Doyle took the mound for Dominion with Skeffington in the dugout after taking a line drive off his lower right leg in the previous inning. Doyle got a flyout to center to start the inning but the next seven Panthers would reach base – with six of them crossing home plate.

After walking two of the four batters he faced, Doyle was pulled and Skeffington was reinserted. But Potomac Falls picked up right were they left off against the junior righty, getting six runs in the inning highlighted by Chris Pelto's three-run triple. By the time Skeffington got pinch-hitter James Waggener to chase an outside fastball for the third out, the Panthers had their final 12-4 margin.

"We put ourselves in a position to make a play and we're not making plays," Raines said. "They battled back, some guys had some key hits, but we made far too many errors tonight. So we might have to shuffle things up the next couple days to try to find some guys that want to stop the ball to help our pitching staff."

Detaranto went five-plus innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits, walking one and striking out four in the winning effort. Malan pitched the final two innings, giving up three hits and striking out three to pick up the save for the Panthers who have now won three straight after a loss to Park View. Potomac Falls travels to Broad Run on Friday for a critical contest that could decide the regular season district championship. The Spartans defeated Park View 3-2 on Tuesday, meaning both teams will enter Friday's game with 10-2 records in league play. The Panthers edged Broad Run 3-2 in their first meeting, with junior Jake Kline out-pitching Spartans' senior ace Cole Shain. The two hurlers are scheduled to go head-to-head again on Friday.

"I told the guys, 'You've worked yourselves into an opportunity to play for a championship here,'" Terango said. "'Your back is against the wall here. It's why you came out for baseball – to play for championships – and you're going to have an opportunity to do that Friday.' So we'll see how it works out."

Notes: Kline, who pitched a nine-inning complete game in Monday's 5-2 win at Dominion, will take the mound on Friday working on only three days rest. It will be the second time in his career that the junior has pitched with such a short turnaround. "He's a big strong kid," Terango said. "He's got a really live arm. He's a competitor, he likes to compete and he enjoys a challenge and he's going to get on Friday."

Tagged: baseball, high school sports

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