Matoaca won a close one at the end last night.
The starting pitching, AJ Moore for Matoaca and Daniel Bridgeman for Dinwiddie, was dominant until the bottom of the 5th. Dinwiddie loaded the bases on walks and a bunt hit, with a run already in Bridgeman ripped a triple into right center to clear the bases making the score 4-0. Moore was replaced by Sophmore Craig Johnson (full dislosure, my kid) who got Gunn to ground out to end the inning.
Both teams were held scoreless in the 6th. Through 6, Bridgeman had allowed only 1 base runner on a bunt hit. Matoaca rallied in the top of the 7th, with a walk, a hit batter, and a single to make it 4-1. Kyle Vaas then singled driving in both runners to make it 4-3 with no outs. Rick Spiers ran for Vaas and was moved to 2nd on a sac bunt, 3rd on a wild pitch and later scored with 2 outs on another wild pitch to make it 4-4.
Johnson got the first batter to fly out to start the 7th, walked the second who later stole second, then got the 3rd to pop out to RF. Lucas Meredith came on to finish the 7th, he walked Maitalnd to put runners at 1st and 2nd, then struckout Bridgeman to end the threat.
In the 8th, Bridgeman struckout the first 2 Matoaca batters then walked Philip VanKuren. Travis Lodge folled with a double off the base of the centerfield fence to make the score 5-4. Meredith closed out the 8th.
Tremendous evenly matched ballgame, pitching was outstanding for both teams. Each team had 4 hits and committed 1 error.
Original Post