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By John Nolan
Assistant Director of Scouting/Content Management 

 

Chesapeake-No. 11 Western Branch took their 3-0 record on the bus and travelled to No. 17 Grassfield on a windy, but otherwise gorgeous, Thursday night. The two teams matched aces as the Bruins sent senior lefty Corey Klak (Old Dominion) to the mound and the Grizzlies countered with senior righthander Garrett Stallings (Tennessee), fresh off of a shutout of the No. 18 Hickory’s high-powered offense. For velocities and scouting information on Stallings and Klak, check the Virginia/DC Scout Blog.

Grassfield got on the board early as sophomore centerfielder Don Goodes reached with a one out single in the first and was driven in two batters later by junior catcher Justice Bigbie. Klak got out of the first with no further damage after getting Stallings to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Western Branch wasted no time answering as senior first baseman Garrett Marchand (James Madison) reached on an error to open the inning and junior outfielder Trent Jones followed that up with an infield single. Later in the inning, senior Brett Cassidy singled to left with two outs, driving in Jones to tie the game at 1.

Both pitchers took over at that point as Klak and Stallings began matching zeroes in dominating fashion. Klak did not allow multiple baserunners again until the eighth inning and Stallings fired a perfect third, fourth, and fifth innings before having to wiggle out of jams in the sixth and seventh innings.

The game moved quickly into extra frames and Stallings continued his dominant performance with a three-up, three-down eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, senior shortstop Austin Obenour led the inning off with a sharp single to left and Goodes followed that with a walk, bringing up senior second baseman Dwight Riddick (Norfolk State). Riddick singled to right-center, driving in Obenour and winning the game for the Grizzlies in walk-off fashion, 2-1.

Both pitchers were outstanding on the evening, Stallings finishing with the win and a line of 8 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, and 9 K. Klak took the tough-luck loss and finished with a line of 7+ IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, and 6 K. For velocities and scouting information on Stallings and Klak, check the Virginia/DC Scout Blog.

Offensively for the Bruins, Klak went 1-2 with a walk, Cassidy finished 1-3 with an RBI, and Jones finished 1-3 with run scored. For the Grizzlies, Goodes went 1-3 with a BB and run scored, Riddick went 1-4 with an RBI, and Bigbie went 2-3 with an RBI.