MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sitting in the chilly Mylan Park dugout late afternoon yesterday, University baseball coach Donovan “Buck” Riggleman glanced up at the Shilling Park scoreboard that showed his team trailing 5-2 in the fourth inning, and slowly shook his head.
The Hawks had already lost Game 1 of their doubleheader with Washington, 10-7, and prospects weren’t looking much better.
However, UHS found their game late to score five runs in the bottom of the sixth – three on a huge home run by Aaron Forbes – to come back to win 9-6 for the twin bill split.
University (2-2) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. A pair of walks and a double steal forced a throwing error and a run, and Forbes ripped a two-out single to left to drive in the second run.
UHS starter, left-handed sophomore Zach Harman, pounded the strike zone in an efficient, scoreless first, but lost his command in the second. Four of the first five Patriots hitters walked, and all of them came around to score. Centerfielder Kobe Smith stroked a single to drive in a pair and later scored the fifth run of Washington’s big inning on Cameron Moore’s two-out single.
Despite struggling in his 29-pitch second, Harman turned things around in the next three innings to keep his team in the game, facing just one over the minimum, including an ultra-efficient, world-record tying three-pitch inning in the fifth.
“You can’t say enough about the job Zach did for us,” Riggleman said after the game. “We really needed him to eat some innings for us, and for a sophomore to go out there after a rough inning and keep us in it, it was exactly what we had to have. I’m proud of him.”
The Hawks’ comeback started in the fourth when Drew Herter led off with a double and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3. UHS drew within a run an inning later when Herter’s hustling infield hit plated Noah Braham.
In the top of the sixth, Washington (1-4) quickly got their first two hitters on, prompting Riggleman to summon Dylan Henry from the bullpen. The senior inherited a no-out, first-and-third jam, but surrendered just a run-scoring sacrifice bunt, setting up the Hawks’ big rally in the bottom of the inning.
After the first two hitters were retired, Casey Smith coaxed a walk, and Braham followed with a sharp single. Junior third baseman Forbes, with two-line singles already in the books, stepped in looking for a pitch to drive, and got one, as he crushed a full-count, up-and-in fastball way, way out to left to vault the Hawks back into the lead.
“I was looking to do some damage in that spot, no doubt,” Forbes smiled after the game. “I had been seeing the ball pretty well all day, so I just needed to stay back and try to put a good swing on a pitch I could extend on. And that kind of got everyone going, too, which was good to see.”
Three more singles and a walk followed, including RBI hits from Seth Coombs and Chase Edwards, to post two more two-out runs to take a 9-6 lead. When Hawks closer Casey Smith – he of the 90+ mph fastball – shifted to the mound in the bottom of the sixth, even a walk and a harmless single couldn’t stop the senior from striking out the side and securing the save in the comeback win.
“We dug ourselves two holes today,” Riggleman explained, “and while we couldn’t climb out in the first game, I’m proud of the way we battled back in Game 2. We cleaned things up, especially after Zach straightened things out, and when we realized we had left eight on after the first five innings, we knew we just needed that big hit. And Aaron gave it to us, for sure, and then the hitting got contagious, simply because we took a more aggressive approach. It’s something good for us to build on.”
The Hawks are back in action on the road on Monday at John Marshall, with the first pitch scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
Washington 050 001 0 – 6
University 200 115 X – 9
Washington (1-4)
Kobe Smith cf 4 1 2 2 Logan Link ss 3 0 0 1 Cameron Moore c 4 0 2 1 Brayden Stottlemyer dh 4 0 1 0 Collin Reed 1b 3 1 0 0 Zach Wick 3b 2 1 0 0 Bradley Smetek 2b 3 2 0 0 Tommy Wogan rf 2 0 0 0 Liam Frye ph 0 0 0 0 Ryan McCarthy lf 1 1 0 1 Daniel Cramer p 0 0 0 0 Adam Sedlock p 0 0 0 0 Devin Mattei p 0 0 0 0 Brenden Kerr p 0 0 0 0 Totals 26 6 5 5.
UNIVERSITY (2-2)
Evan Smith rf 4 0 0 0 Avante Neal cf 3 1 1 0 Casey Smith ss-p 2 2 0 0 Noah Braham 1b 4 2 3 0 Aaron Forbes 3b 4 1 3 4 Cam Musgrave dh 3 1 2 0 Seth Coombs c 4 0 1 1 Park Croyle c 0 0 0 0 Chase Edwards 2b-ss 4 0 1 1 Drew Herter lf 3 2 2 1 Dylan Henry p-2b 0 0 0 0 Zach Harman p 0 0 0 0 Totals 31 9 13 7.
E- WHS 1 UHS 3. LOB – WHS 7 UHS 10. 2B – UHS 1(Herter). HR – UHS 1 (Forbes). SH – WHS 1 (McCarthy). SF – WHS 1 (Link).
WHS – Cramer 2 ip 2 r 2 er 1 h 3 bb 2 so, Sedlock 2 ip 1 r 1 er 4 h 1 bb 1 so, Mattei (L) 1.2 ip 6 r 6 er 6 h 2 bb 0 so, Kerr 0.1 ip 0 r 0 er 2 h 0 bb 0 so.
UHS – Harman 5+ ip (faced two in sixth) 6 r 5 er 4 h 5 bb 3 so, Henry (W) 1 ip 0 r 0 er 0 h 0 bb 1 so, C. Smith (S) 1 ip 0 r 0 er 1 h 1 bb 3 so.
