By MARK SAWYER
WINCHESTER — The most frustrating thing about a long losing streak oftentimes is just trying to catch a break, and right now, the Handley baseball team can't find one.
Following a loss Friday night at Skyline in which they held an 8-1 lead only to eventually lose 9-8, the Judges returned home to face their biggest rival, hoping to find some luck and end a 10-game losing streak.
Unfortunately for Handley, James Wood had other ideas and it brought its bats with them.
The Colonels had 11 different players get at least one hit, including every starter, and touched up four different Handley pitchers for 18 hits and rolled to an easy 15-1 Northwestern District victory over the Judges at Bridgeforth Field in a game stopped after five innings due to the run rule.
It was the 11th loss in a row for Handley, and its second 15-1 district setback in the less then a week.
On the flip side, the win keeps the Colonels right in the middle of the district race with seven district games remaining for both teams.
“Our guys came out and swung well,” James Wood coach Jared Mounts said. “We had like 12 strikeouts Friday night (at Fauquier), so we talked about making some adjustments and not just talking about it but going out and doing it. We tweaked some things in the lineup, just trying to find something that will work for us, and the guys responded.
“We’ve lost three games by one run. We've got to get on the winning side. Winning’s not everything. But that’s why you compete, that’s why you play the game. The objective is to win, and that’s what we look at and at the end of the day. What’s your record gonna show? We're still one game under .500. We’ve got to draw even and work ahead.”
Things started innocently enough for Handley starter Taylor Sandroni, who retired the first two hitters he faced to start the game. But then things started to unravel.
A.J. Eubank started the rally with a two-out hit, followed by a walk to Scott Zerull. Neal Cybulski and Nick Goode then picked up back-to-back RBI singles to make it 2-0 and put runners on the corners.
The Colonels literally stole a run when Goode stole second and was ruled safe on a close play, allowing courtesy runner Zach Webster to stroll home with the third run.
Things didn’t get any better for the Judges (1-11, 0-5 Northwestern District) in the second.
Jordan Iden stroked a one-out single to left and Dakota Orndorff reached on an infield single. The next hitter, Kyle Hevner, followed by lacing a gapper that rolled all the way to the fence in right-center field for what appeared to be an easy triple. But Hevner had no intentions of slowing down at third and raced all the way home with a three-run inside-the-park home run and a 6-0 lead.
James Wood (5-6, 2-3) picked up another run in the third before putting the game out of reach and the run rule in effect with five more runs in the fourth.
Ordorff's bases loaded walk in the third made it 7-0. And the Colonels got RBI singles from Addison Barber and Joey Eubank, a two-run single off the bench by Russell Repasky, and another bases-loaded walk, this time to Hevner in the fourth inning, pushed the lead to 12-0.
Barber was the benefactor of all the offense on the mound for the Colonels.
The left-hander worked all five innings for the win, giving up just the one run on two hits. He walked one, hit one, and struck out two. He only allowed four runners to reach base and two of them came with one out in the fourth, on back-to-back hits by Reagan Potts and Jacob Rudolph.
“Addison did a good job working ahead of the hitters early on,” Mounts said. “He was throwing strikes and had a good defense behind him. It was a good team win.”
Potts broke up Barber’s no-hit bid with a double to the fence in right field, and Rudolph did him one better by ending the shutout with a triple to the fence in right-center. Barber retired the next two hitters to end the inning and leave Rudolph stranded at third.
The Colonels answered with three more runs in the top of the fifth for the final margin of victory. RBI singles by Tyler Payne off the bench and Iden and an RBI groundout by Joey Eubank provided the final three runs for the Colonels.
“At the beginning of the season I had a lot of confidence, and I still have a lot of confidence in our pitchers, they just haven't done it yet,” Handley coach Eddie Simmons said.
“I still feel like they’re a confident group. They're going out and they're playing hard — they're just getting beat.
“Obviously at this point we'd like to win as many games as we can along the way, but our goal is to be the best team that we can be when it comes time for the tournament. We’re just gonna keep with that attitude and see what happens.
“I feel for them because I want them to be successful. It just seems like every time we go out with a positive attitude the other team’s playing extremely well. Not top many teams in the league are gonna go out and get 18 hits in a night, I don't care who's throwing. Baseball teams don't put up 18 hits so you've got to take your hat off to Coach Mounts and what he's doing over there. They did a great job.”
Iden led the way for the Colonels, finishing 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Five other Colonels had two hits and Hevner drove in a game-high four runs.
The Colonels outhit the Judges 18-2, with Potts and Rudolph accounting for the only Handley hits.