PURCELLVILLE — James Wood baseball fought until the final out during Tuesday’s Class 4 state quarterfinal game against Woodgrove, but ultimately suffered a season-ending loss to the Region 4C champions.
The Wolverines bested the visiting Colonels 2-1 in a game where they had the tying run on second base in the seventh inning. James Wood finished 16-8, while Woodgrove won its seventh straight game and improved to 18-5.
“That is another highly competitive team and a highly competitive game,” James Wood head coach Adrian Pullen said. “They're good, we're good. This is the VHSL state playoffs; you don't expect anything less. You're going to see the best arms, you're going to see the best matchups, you're going to see the best strategies working against each other, trying to figure out how we're going to beat the other one.
“At this time of year, you’ve just got to play your best. If you have less than your best game, you stand a chance of losing.”
In his first career state tournament game, Colonels' sophomore starting pitcher Nolan Landry went five innings and tallied three strikeouts, two walks, six hits and two earned runs.
Though Landry worked hard to keep runs off the board, Woodgrove starter Chad Nielsen also stepped up and held the Colonels scoreless across his 4.2 innings of work. He finished with seven strikeouts, a walk and three hits.
With James Wood trailing 2-0 entering the sixth, Owen Neal walked to open the inning before stealing second base and reaching third due to an errant throw.
With one out, Parker Kerns grounded out to drive in Neal, making it 2-1. The third baseman said he was focused on giving his team a chance to come back.
“I just had to do what the coaches always want us to, drive in runs,” Kerns said. “I had one chance earlier [in the fourth inning]. I should have driven some runs for the boys there.”
Kaden McCullough dug in next and hit a short grounder in front of third base and sprinted through first to get on, before stealing second during Landry’s at-bat. Landry walked, but McCullough was tagged out at second to end the inning.
The Colonels’ lone senior didn’t allow this mistake to be his final contribution to James Wood, as he made a key play to close out the bottom of the sixth.
Kerns entered at pitcher to start the frame and sent Woodgrove’s first two batters down before allowing a Caden Cunningham base hit. With runners on first and second, McCullough ran down a pop fly in deep left field and recorded a putout to end the inning, keeping the deficit at one run.
Pullen said McCullough has been a great leader all season, and said he had plenty of confidence in the left fielder to go get the ball.
“When that ball was hit, I knew he was going to catch it, no matter how far he ran because that's how he practices,” Pullen said. “We go at it 100% and I take the machine and throw [the balls] as far as I can throw them and see how fast he can get to them. And that's why we make plays like that. There's always a belief that we're going to make a play.”
The Colonels entered the seventh with their No. 7-9 hitters coming to the plate. After singling in the fourth, Brady Smith walked with one out to put the tying run on base. After Jackson Lang’s sacrifice bunt moved pinch-runner Luke LaFollette to second, Wolverines reliever Brady Miller recorded a strikeout to end the game.
Woodgrove opened the scoring in the fourth with effective small-ball offense.
Coltan Dezarn reached on a bunt and Cam Felmey hit a single that advanced Dezarn to third. This set up a Cunningham sacrifice fly that scored Dezarn, making it 1-0 with two outs.
Landry responded by striking out Hudson Jappell, which wasn’t the only time he prevented excess damage. With two runners on base in the third, Woodgrove popped out and struck out to end the inning.
James Wood also prevented Woodgrove from getting a lead in the second, as the team turned a 4-6-3 double play with two outs and two runners on. Landry only allowed one base runner in the first inning.
“We were on the brink several times, and Nolan competed, which is why he's out there tonight,” Pullen said. “We felt Nolan gave us the best matchup against this team. [Woodgrove] loves the fastball, and they were geared up. They played a lot of teams that have pitchers that throw hard, so we felt that Nolan throws a little softer, a little more breaking ball. They have a lot of lefties, so we went left on left, trying to do everything just to get an advantage.”
Woodgrove’s Miller took the mound in the fifth with two outs after Nielsen’s day ended following Smith’s hit and another Lang sac bunt. Miller struck out the first batter he saw to maintain the Wolverines’ lead, which they built upon in the bottom of the inning.
With one out, Nielsen recorded a sacrifice bunt to score Bryan Miller Jr., who reached on a leadoff single, making it 2-0. The Wolverines’ next batter popped out to end the inning.
“This time of year, the winner is the one who executes and the one that will take advantage of the other team's mistake,” Pullen said. “Tonight it comes down to, we didn't field two bunts the way we should have. They got bunts down, we didn't execute offensively and the couple times that we had runners in scoring position early enough in the game, we could’ve taken the lead."
Nielsen started the game on a roll, striking out five batters and allowing one hit in the first three innings. Tyler Prusik was the only Colonel to get on base across that span.
Neal and Prusik reached in the top of the fourth and advanced to second and third on a balk, but were left stranded when Nielsen recorded his sixth and seventh strikeouts.
While James Wood didn’t get the result it was hoping for on Tuesday, its leaders didn’t overlook what the team achieved this season. With every player besides McCullough eligible to return next spring, Pullen and Kerns said the team can build off this year’s results.
“I am most proud that they don't ever give up, no matter what. Good, bad, or indifferent,” Pullen said. “That's what we preach all the time, that somebody's going to pick it up and get us to where we need to go. They just keep fighting for each other, and that's what I'm most proud of.
“The future should be bright for the program. We lose Kaden, but everybody else is coming back. We talked about it, next season started right now. It's time to reflect on this year, and talk about, ‘How am I going to dedicate myself to not getting beat in this game next year? How are we going to get better?’”
“We’re a young team … I’m proud of the way we manufactured runs, made plays,” Kerns said. “Young people like Nolan Landry can come in and throw a game like that. [I have] awesome teammates. I think next year is going to be amazing.”
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