WINCHESTER -- Typically in baseball, when a team is held hitless for all but one of its offensive innings in a game, it is fairly safe to assume that that team came out on the losing end.
But baseball can be a wacky game, and in the case of Wednesday's matchup between host James Wood and Clarke County, inconsistency at the plate does not always translate into the dreaded 'L' in the win/loss column.
James Wood appeared lost at the plate for much of Wednesday's contest against Eagles starter Drew Paice, but the Colonels tallied all five of their hits and all of their runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to beat Clarke County 7-2.
"[Paice] was shutting us down. He was shoving it for about four or five innings there," said Colonels coach Jared Mounts. "We made adjustments -- it took us a little while to make the adjustment, but we finally [did]."
Paice was about as dominant as a pitcher can be in the game's first 3 2/3 innings. He struck out six of the first seven Colonels batters he faced and allowed just one runner to reach base in the opening three frames.
Paice kept the James Wood (2-2) hitters off balance with a good mix of off-speed pitches. The lefty's go-to pitch was his curveball, which he consistently worked down and in to right-handed batters.
Paice (0-2) finished with 11 strikeouts over five innings, but allowed five walks and was responsible for all of James Wood's hits and runs in the fourth inning.
"That's baseball. You can come out and throw as good as you want, but if the other team is hitting it where you're not [positioned], that's good for them," Paice said. "I just came out with the mentality that if I throw strikes, if they hit the ball hopefully the defense behind me will get it."
Unfortunately for Paice and the Eagles, James Wood was able to find some holes in Clarke County's defense in the fourth inning.
After A.J. Eubank struck out to open the bottom of the frame, Colonels No. 3 hitter Dakota Orndorff smacked James Wood's first hit of the evening.
Paice got Andy Kennedy to strike out swinging for the inning's second out, but then things began to roll James Wood's way.
Scott Zerull looped a single over Eagles first baseman Patrick McGrath that scored Orndorff to tie the game at 1-all, and after a walk to Jordan Iden, designated hitter Russell Repasky slapped an RBI single, a grounder through the hole between first and second, to give the Colonels their first lead.
"Timely hitting is so important," Mounts said. "You can get a lot of hits, but when you don't get them at the right time -- with runners in scoring position -- it doesn't do any good."
Kyle Hevner worked a bases loaded walk to give James Wood a 3-1 lead, and leadoff man Nick Goode hit a two-run single to right to extend the lead. Eubank finished the scoring with a single to right on a soft grounder that squeezed through the hole.
"[James Wood] had a couple of weak hits in that inning -- I don't think they really hit a ball hard all night," said Eagles coach Jon Novick. "[It was] timely hitting for them. We couldn't get the [big] hit; they got hits when they needed them."
Clarke County (1-3) wasn't without its share of opportunities at the plate as they stranded a total of 11 baserunners, including seven in the first three innings.
The Eagles managed a run in the top of the fourth as McGrath scored on a Colonels error, and another in the fifth on an RBI bloop single by David Betz.
James Wood starter Zach Webster and the rest of the Colonels defense, as well as just plain bad luck, were much to blame for Clarke County's inability to cash in with runners on base.
Webster (1-0) threw four innings while allowing one unearned run on four hits. Justin McDonald pitched the final three innings for the Colonels, allowing an unearned run on one hit.
"As a team we pulled together --we were able to shut them down and not let the runs score," said Webster. "That's our main thing this year: keep the runners off base and don't let them cross home plate."