April 9, 2008

 
Before last night’s game, the last time the Thomas Jefferson Colonials and the Madison Warhawks played each other on a diamond Thomas Jefferson prevailed in a big win 5-4.  At the time, Madison was rated by USA Today as the #3 high school baseball team in the country.  Although Madison was not ranked by USA Today this year, they still brought a talented and senior laden team to their home field to faceoff against Thomas Jefferson.  Seven of the nine starting Madison batters were seniors and only three Thomas Jefferson seniors started last nights game--Alex Radcliffe and J.B. Vande Sand, who both started in last year’s game against Madison, and designated hitter Beau Pritchett.  Sophomore pitcher Chris Kilgore was given the starting assignment by Coach Gardziel.  Chris did a nice job for three innings keeping the ball in the strike zone.  Three untimely infield errors, however, helped Madison build an 8-2 lead after three innings.  After the third inning, however, the Colonials played the Warhawks even up.  The fourth and final senior on Thomas Jefferson’s squad, Tom Rudelius, came in to pitch in relief.  The Warhawks were only able to score three runs during the next three innings.  Their run total was matched by the Colonials in their half of the sixth inning thanks to singles by Ryan Stumvoll and Jeff Seibach and timely doubles by Jonathan Wildes and Alan Allworth.