Stone Bridge Baseball Loses Dist. Final

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Monday, May 18, 2009

In the ten meetings between McLean and Stone Bridge since the latter joined the Virginia AAA Liberty District in 2006, none had been decided by more than three runs. So when the second-seeded Bulldogs took a five-run lead into the fourth inning of Monday's Liberty District tournament championship at Madison, Highlanders Coach John Thomas simply told his kids to get in the game because their chances would come.

With a nine-hit barrage in the home half of the fourth, McLean sent 12 men to the plate and scored nine runs to take a lead they would not relinquish on its way to an 11-8 victory. The Bulldogs battled back in their last at bat but could not defend their tournament title from a year ago.

"We said if we go out, we're not going out like this," Thomas said of his fourth-inning speech to his team.

The Bulldogs (17-5) got to McLean starter Denis Buckley early, plating two runs in the first, two in the second and one more in the fourth to chase the junior right-hander. Meantime, Stone Bridge senior ace Nick Fialdini was cruising through the Highlanders’ lineup, setting down the first nine batters he faced.

But in the home half of the fourth, the top-seeded Highlanders (18-4) finally started to get things going at the plate against a pitcher they’d already beaten twice this season in low-scoring affairs.

Junior lead-off hitter Riley Beiro singled up the middle and moved to second on junior Chris Russo’s single to right. Sean Fitzgerald got ahead 2-0 in the count and ripped a run-scoring single down the third base line to get McLean on the board. Then first baseman Erik Payne drew a walk and Buckley’s single off the foot of Fialdini plated two more runs. After a sacrifice bunt by Brett Bleiweis – the only out recorded by Fialdini in the inning – Jordan Ghanam slapped an RBI single to left. Charlie Geiger then singled on a swinging bunt, Ethan Gaba drove in a run on a single to left, Beiro smashed a two-run double to right and Russo doubled to push Beiro across the plate for the second time in the inning. By the time Stone Bridge senior lefty Ryan Cummings induced a popup to second base to end the inning, McLean had taken a 9-5 lead and chased two Bulldog pitchers.

“I just think we got a little more assertive in the box,” Thomas said. “And luckily we’ve got two guys at the top of our lineup – Beiro and Russo – who have a lot of experience and are good players. It’s tough to get momentum when you’re down 5-0, but when you have those two putting good swings on it, hitting the ball hard, now we’re rolling.”

Fialdini fell behind three of the first four batters he faced in the fourth and McLean made the Bulldogs pay.

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McLean Edges Bulldogs in Liberty District Final

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McLean coach John Thomas receives an ice water bath after his team defeated Stone Bridge 11-8 on Monday night to win the Liberty District tournament championship. (Matt Brooks)

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McLean junior shortstop Sean Fitzgerald fouls off a pitch from Stone Bridge starter Nick Fialdini in the first inning of Monday's Liberty District tournament final. Fitzgerald had an RBI double in the fourth and came on to pitch the seventh inning as the Highlanders won the game 11-8. (Matt Brooks)

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Stone Bridge senior Bryce Williams scores the third run of the game for the Bulldogs in the second inning. Williams went 2 for 3 with a double and a single and was hit by a pitch. (Matt Brooks)

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Stone Bridge senior Johnny Bladel strikes out swinging on a curveball from McLean starter Denis Buckley in the second inning. (Matt Brooks)

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The McLean Highlanders celebrate their Liberty District tournament championship after beating Stone Bridge 11-8 on Monday night. (Matt Brooks)

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“Good hitters hit in positive counts and we gave them opportunities,” Stone Bridge Coach Sam Plank said. “We just couldn’t find a way to close the door. It was like a never-ending nightmare.”

Stone Bridge rallied back with one run in the fifth off McLean reliever Tim Ferry, but the junior was sharp for most of his 2 2/3 innings in relief of Buckley, limiting the damage to one run on three hits.

After McLean tacked on two more unearned runs in the sixth, the Bulldogs pieced together one final rally in the top of the seventh when seniors Patrick Thompson and Bryce Williams were both hit by pitches from Fitzgerald to put runners on first and second with one out. Pat Piccolo singled on a ground ball off the pitcher that trickled past the second baseman and into shallow right to score Thompson and Williams who had move up on a wild pitch. But Fitzgerald then struck out sophomore Spenser Rositano swinging and got senior Michael Prince to line out to second to seal the victory.

Beiro had two hits and two RBIs and scored twice in the Highlanders’ big inning. Russo was 2 for 4 on the night and Buckley and Ghanam each had two RBIs as McLean beat Stone Bridge for the third time this season.

“My job as the lead-off man is to get things started and I think I came through,” Beiro said. “We just had to wake up there and realize this is the district championship game. Once we got things started there, I knew we were going to keep them going.”

Prince was 4 for 5 with two RBIs and Piccolo drove in three runs on two hits for the Bulldogs who saw their seven-game winning streak snapped. Fialdini took the loss, giving up eight runs on seven hits – all in the fourth inning – while walking one and striking out one. Cummings gave Stone Bridge 1 2/3 innings of solid relief, allowing two unearned runs, and junior Taylor Lambke pitched a scoreless sixth.

McLean will host Centreville in the first round of the AAA Northern Region on Friday while the Bulldogs host Chantilly. Stone Bridge defeated the Chargers, 4-2, earlier this season Plank says they must play much better baseball if they hope to advance in the playoffs. The 11 runs the Bulldogs gave up matched their season high and marked just the fifth game in which they allowed more than six runs on the year.

"It's going to be a tough game," Plank said. "We're going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight to win Friday. They played for the Concorde title so you know it's going to be a tough game.

"This hurts, but we've got to get over it real quick because the chance for the real prize starts Friday night. That's why you play all year, to get to the regionals, to get a chance to get to the state tournament."

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks