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A damp Thursday night saw No. 7 Riverside travel to take on Dominion in a Dulles District game. The game started late after the field had to be cleared for lightning immediately after the playing of the National Anthem. After the delay, a back and forth game ensued and Riverside ultimately came back and hung on to win, 6-4.

Dominion starter junior lefty Dylan Weber on the mound and Riverside wasted no time getting on the board. Centerfielder Tyler Casagrande (Arizona) led the game off with a single to right and was bunted into scoring position. Junior Carson Swank (Yale) reached on a dropped fly ball and the Rams had two on with one out. A double steal was successful and the throw down to third skipped into leftfield, allowing Casagrande to score the game’s first run and putting Swank on third. Ryan Hoehn delivered a sacrifice fly to center to score Swank. Weber would get out of the inning without any more damage, but Riverside led early 2-0.

Riverside sent senior Robbie Ferreira to the mound for the start and he was able to put together a scoreless first with the help of an interference call on an attempted steal of second. Weber had a strong top of the second, retiring the Rams in order. In the bottom of the second, sophomore Mario Canestraro led the inning off with a single off of the centerfield fence, being held at first as Casagrande did a good job of getting to it quickly. After being bunted to second, Canestraro scored the Titans’ first run when Cole Hepler flared a ball into right that landed just fair and went for a double. After two, Riverside led 2-1.

Riverside put a threat together in the top of the third, but Weber was able to escape with no damage. In the bottom of the third, sophomore Matt Turk led the inning off beating out a Baltimore chop infield single and took second when the throw to first got away. He scored the tying run when Mitchell Kay singled to right. Kay moved to third on a stolen base and an error and scored the go-ahead run for the Titans when Matt Roth reached on an error. After Roth stole second, Kevin DiDomenico drove him in with a single to center and Dominion led 4-2 after three innings.

Weber put up a scoreless fourth and Riverside went to the pen for senior lefty Wes Glass (Young Harris), who delivered a perfect fourth inning of his own.

In the top of the fifth, Casagrande led the inning off lining a base hit to left, but he was thrown out on a close play at second trying to stretch it into a double. After a strikeout, Swank ripped a two-out double to left. Hoehn delivered an RBI single to right and then John Heltebran doubled right-center, driving in Hoehn from first to tie the game. The throw home to get Hoehn got wedged in the fence, and Heltebran was awarded home, giving the Rams a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Dominion was able to get the tying run to third with two outs, but Glass got a strikeout to end the inning. Weber worked a perfect sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, DiDomenico drew a leadoff walk and was able to steal second with one out to put himself into scoring position. He moved to third on a ground out, but Glass was again able to get a strikeout to end the inning with a runner on third. The game headed to the seventh with Riverside clinging to a 5-4 lead.

In the top of the seventh, Casagrande led the inning off with his third hit and that ended Weber’s night. Dominion turned to sophomore righty Xavier Ruley. Ruley sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a walk of Swank to get bring up Heltebran with two on and two outs. Heltebran delivered a single to left, scoring Casagrande and giving the Rams a key insurance run.

In the bottom of the seventh, Glass hit Turk with a pitch to open the inning. Turk stole second and took third on an overthrow before Glass got the first out on a strikeout. A walk put runners on the corners and ended Glass’ as Riverside brought in freshman righty Wyatt Shenkman. Shenkman got a strikeout before issuing a walk to load the bases with two outs for DiDomenico. DiDomenico chopped a grounder to first and was called out on a bang-bang play to end the game with Riverside winning, 6-4.

For Dominion, Weber took the loss, going 6 IP, 5 R, 8 H, 1 HBP, 0 BB, and 3 K. Kay was 2-4 with an RBI and a stolen base. Canestraro was 1-3 with a BB. DiDomenico was 1-2 with a RBI, sacrifice, stolen base, and a walk. Hepler was 1-3 with a 2B and an RBI.

For Riverside, Glass was the winning pitcher with 3.1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K. Casagrande was 3-4 with a stolen base and two runs. Swank was 1-3 with a walk, 2B, stolen base, and two runs. Hoehn was 2-3 with 2 RBIs. Heltebran 2-3 with a HBP, a 2B, and 2 RBIs.

 

Scouting Notes

Riverside

-2018 Ferreira was 81-83, touching 84. Curveball 67-79

-2018 Glass was 81-84. Slider 74-77.

-2021 Shenkman was 85-87.

-Casagrande showed barrel ability and good approach, using whole field aggressively. 

-Swank has gotten stronger and has added power without sacrificing speed or athleticism

 

Dominion

-2019 Weber was 80-82, touching 83. Showed different shapes and speeds on curveball, pitch was 61-69. Change-up was 67.

-2020 Ruley was 76-77. Curveball was 64-67.

 

For full scouting notes and videos, watch for the VA/DC Scout Blog post for this game early next week.

 

 

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