Brokaw's Bomb Lifts Riverside Over Woodgrove

Thursday night saw a Dulles District showdown between Woodgrove and Riverside. The Wolverines have been near the top of the District all spring, where as the Rams were preseason favorites that got off to an 0-5 start after being decimated by injuries early. A tight, well played game broke out with Riverside coming from behind on a late home run to win 3-2 and continue their midseason surge in getting back to 7-7.

As expected, a pitcher's duel broke out during this game as each team sent their top arm to the mound, with Woodgrove starting senior Nick Lockhart (Virginia Tech) and Riverside going with sophomore Wyatt Shenkman. Both pitchers were in control early and the game was scoreless after two innings.

Woodgrove struck first in the top of the third. Catcher Nick Monastero reached with a one-out single and Ethan Dezarn worked a walk. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Brady Drawbaugh (Mt. St. Mary's) got a safety squeeze down, with Monastero's courtesy runner scoring ahead of the throw back from first.

Shenkman was able to end the inning with just a 1-0 deficit, getting Christian Hile to make a loud out to center that Sajon Belser (College of Charleston) tracked down. Riverside wasted no time tying game back up as Belser mashed a home run to left center in the bottom of the third. The score was tied at 1 as the game headed to the fourth.

Woodgrove took the lead again in the fourth when Tim Blankenship drew a two out walk and then came around to score on a Johnathan Marquart RBI double to right center. Shenkman got a strikeout to end the inning with the score 2-1, stranding a runner in scoring position. Lockhart allowed a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the fourth, but got a ground ball to Dezarn, who started a slick 6-4-3 double play to end the fourth. 

Both teams left runners in scoring position in the fifth, with Shenkman getting a punchout with runners on second and third to end the top half of the inning and Lockhart giving up a two-out triple but getting Belser to ground out on a bang-bang play to end the bottom of the fifth. In the top of the sixth, the Wolverines again got a runner into scoring position and again Shenkman came up with a strikeout to end the threat and strand the runner.

In the bottom of the sixth, Patrick Sheffield led the inning off with a single to center for the Rams. John Heltebran bunted Sheffield down to second, and he advanced to third when Nick Connolly flew out to deep center. With the tying run on third, junior first baseman Ryan Brokaw belted a moonshot to deep center that carried just over the fence for a go-ahead two-run home run. 

In the top of the seventh, Riverside went to the pen for senior Gunner Canary to close the game out. He hit Dezarn with a pitch to put the tying run on with one out. Dezarn successfully stole second to get into scoring position for the Drawbaugh and Hile, but Canary was able to strike out both to end the game with Riverside pulling out a 3-2 win.

For Riverside, Shenkman was the winning pitcher, going 6 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K and was also 0-1 with a BB and HBP at the plate. Canary got the save with 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 HBP, 2 K. Belser was 1-3 with a home run. Sheffield was 1-2 with a BB. Brokaw finished 2-3 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

For Woodgrove, Lockhart went 6 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 HBP, 4 K. Dezarn was 0-1 with a BB, a SB, and 2 HBP. Blankenship was 1-2 with a BB. MArquart was 1-3 with a 2B and an RBI.