Hawks knock off Colonels

Neeb’s late-inning relief pitching helps Skyline baseball hold off James Wood

By Robert Stocks
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — When James Wood looks back on Tuesday night’s Northwestern District game against Skyline, the Colonels will undoubtedly know they had their chances.

James Wood ran itself out of a rally and into an inning-ending double play in the sixth, and Skyline reliever Keaton Neeb worked the final 21/3 innings in the Hawks’ 9-7 victory over the Colonels at R. Charles Hott Field.

Neeb allowed just one hit and two runs to get the victory, helping the Hawks avenge an 11-6 loss to the Colonels on March 27.

“It’s a huge win,” Skyline coach Nick Sborz said. “Especially going into tournament time, that’s a big win over a really, really good ball club.”

In the top of the sixth, Skyline (7-9, 6-9 Northwestern) broke a 5-5 tie with small ball.

Luke Pingley bunted his way on to start the inning, and Travis Custer (2-for-4 with two runs) followed with a single. Nate White (3-for-5 with two runs) loaded the bases with a well-placed bunt down the third-base line.

James Wood reliever Hunter Leight struck out Jon King looking for the first out, but Skyline took the lead without even swinging the bat.

Leight plunked Neeb in the back on a 1-2 pitch, bringing home Pingley to put the Hawks ahead 6-5.

Leight walked Ryan Settle with the bases loaded, then Tyler Settle’s sacrifice fly to center extended Skyline’s lead to 8-5.

In the bottom half of the inning, Neeb found himself in a bases-loaded jam.

Wood’s Travis Viands reached on a passed ball third strike, and Tim Spore followed with a ground-rule double to right-center.

Neeb walked Danny Cooper to load the bases. Leight struck out for the first out, but Neeb hit Brock Lockhart with a pitch to score Viands.

Then, one of the wackiest plays of the season unfolded when Cooper Franks singled to left.

Franks lifted a sinking liner into left, and Skyline left fielder Luke Pingley dived but trapped the ball. Spore scored from third on the play to cut the Hawks’ lead to 8-7, but Cooper and Lockhart were both tagged out on the bases for an inning-ending and rally-killing double play.

The ball went from left field to third, then an errant throw sent the ball into right before Lockhart was tagged out in a rundown between second and third.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Sborz said. “I know it kind of looked like a circus out there. It was a heads-up play by our guys — not just giving up on it and letting the ball go.”

Skyline added an insurance run on White’s RBI single in the seventh.

Neeb (2-4) walked a batter in the bottom half of the seventh, but retired the other three Colonels he faced in the inning. The senior reliever credited his teammates for getting out of the sixth.

“With the bases loaded and the wind blowing that hard [out to center], I knew I had to keep the ball down,” Neeb said. “It was a great diving [attempt] by Pingley, but it was a big break for us with the bases loaded.”

James Wood coach Jared Mounts said his team didn’t execute well against the Hawks.

“That’s the way the ball bounces sometimes,” Mounts said. “Give Skyline credit — they came out, played well and did what they needed to to win.”

James Wood (12-5, 10-4) seemingly was doing that with a 2-0 lead and starter Dustin Russell holding the Hawks hitless through four innings.

The Hawks, however, started the fifth with four straight hits. King drove in a run with a single to chase Russell. Leight entered in relief, and Neeb greeted him with a double high off the wall in left-center to give Skyline its first lead, 3-2.

The Hawks added another run on an error when Leight’s pickoff attempt to first went down the right-field line. A balk called on Leight (3-1) put the Hawks ahead 5-2.

The Colonels walked or hit a batter in every inning except the fourth and seventh.

“You never want to walk and free passes are never good,” Mounts said. “You want to make them earn their way on. I’d rather see a kid hit a double than walk them or even hit by pitches. You gotta throw strikes and make them earn their way on.”

“We just let this one get away from us,” added Spore, who went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two stolen bases. “We need to put the blame on ourselves instead of the umpires and stop pointing fingers at each other. Once we do that, we can be a good team.”

Copley went 3-for-4 and drove in a run, and Russell went 2-for-3 for the Colonels.