P. Falls Baseball Reaches Semis

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Potomac Falls had its chances to get to Grafton starting pitcher Cody Moore. With the score deadlocked after three innings of Tuesday's AA Virginia state semifinal game in Sterling, the Panthers got the lead runner aboard the fourth, sixth and seventh innings but failed to advance him beyond second base.

Whether the result of popped-up bunt attempts or nifty glove work that the Clippers turned into three double plays, Potomac Falls simply could not get the winning run home. Each and every time, the Panthers' senior ace Jacob Kline would trot back out to the mound and retire the Grafton hitters to preserve the tie and give his team one more chance to win it.

So, when Kline stepped to the plate with a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, he decided enough was enough. After fouling off four fastballs from Grafton reliever Chris Moyer, Kline drove the seventh pitch he saw back up the middle into center field, and Matt Rubino slid across the plate ahead of the throw to send the Panthers to their first state semifinal since 2003 with a 3-2 victory.

"I knew he was going to give me a good pitch, and I thought, 'Just hit it,' " Kline said. " 'We've been here long enough and we're better than that team.' "

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Potomac Falls Baseball Reaches State Semifinals

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Potomac Falls third baseman Matthew Rubino makes the tag on Grafton's Bobby Donze in the fifth inning. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Potomac Falls' Ryan Mahoney scores his team's first run of the game, in the first inning. Grafton catcher Collin Wilbur awaits a throw. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Potomac Falls students cheer on their baseball team during Tuesday's game. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Jake Kline pitched a nine-inning complete game for Potomac Falls on Tuesday. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Matthew Rubino (arm in air) comes in with the winning run and is swarmed at home plate by his Potomac Falls teammates. The Panthers will play in the Virginia AA state semifinals at Radford on Friday. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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The Panthers swarm home plate after winning the game in the ninth inning on an RBI single by Jake Kline that scored Matthew Rubino. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Kline pitched another gem for the Panthers, outlasting Moore and limiting the damage on 11 hits in his nine innings of work. The Clippers had base runners in each of the first seven innings but never crossed the plate after the third inning, when three hits and an error provided their only runs of the ballgame. Kline struck out nine and did not walk a batter, gaining strength as the game progressed, bearing down to retire the final seven batters he faced in order.

"How he went nine and just got stronger as the game went on is just an incredible feat," Potomac Falls Coach Joe Terango said.

The Panthers (22-3) got to Moore early on, plating two runs in the first on an RBI double by senior shortstop Rob Malan and a run-scoring groundout by sophomore shortstop Ryan Miller that scored Malan.

The Clippers' best chance came on a leadoff double to the center field wall by Bobby Donze in the fifth. But Donze tried to stretch his hit into a triple and was gunned out at third on a perfect relay throw from Chad McMichael to second baseman Ben Sweger, who threw to Rubino for the tag. And Kline, who, with no one warming in the bullpen, probably would have pitched the 10th if necessary, took care of things the rest of the way.

"Later on in the innings, you've got to bear down," he said. "This is the game right here. We were having a hard time scoring runs. If you mess up, you might not get another chance to score runs. So every pitch has got to count."

Kline's winning single set up a meeting with Poquoson in Friday's semifinal at 10 a.m. at Radford University. Poquoson, the Region I champions, defeated Orange, 4-0.

"I knew that I had the right group of guys, that they weren't going to fold at this point," Terango said. "I knew they were going to keep fighting to the end. When it comes to playing in a game like that, I'll take my guys any day of the week."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks