By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area
With winter bearing down, the Spartans went on an early march to victory, one-by-one, 90 feet at a time.
The first seven West Springfield batters smacked base hits — four on the first pitch of the at-bat — as five first-inning runs sparked a 5-1 road win over Lake Braddock on Tuesday.
“We wanted to be aggressive early and we did — they were,” said Spartan coach John James, who had eight of his nine players record a hit. “Obviously, games are a lot easier when you can get a lead like that early. We didn’t add on to it, which we need to get better at.
“We saw [Ryan] Lindemuth last year and these guys are really familiar with each other. That was our approach coming in, to be really aggressive early in the count try to make things happen early.”
That five-run advantage was all the cushion West Springfield needed, especially once the Lake Braddock bats hit the Wahl.
Spartan junior Bobby Wahl was surgical on the mound. He pitched a complete-game one-hitter, striking out 13 Bruins, while walking just one. Five of his final six outs were strike outs and 68 of his 90 total pitches were strikes.
In fact, only batter reached a three-ball count — the third-inning, one-out walk drawn by outfielder Michael Fanning.
The first three Lake Braddock hitters were 0-for-9 with six strikeouts and only one ball reached the outfield, the Bruins’ only hit, an RBI double by junior second baseman Patch McLucas.
“He’s got the type of stuff that, when he’s commanding, he’s awfully tough to hit,” said James of Wahl. “He was really commanding it tonight. When he’s pounding the zone, we’re pretty sure we’re going to get a good outing out of him.”
Added Wahl, who threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 25 batters he faced: “I felt good coming out today. Everything was working for me. I just wanted to come out here throwing strikes and get ahead.”
With the win, West Springfield improved to 3-0 and has outscored its opponents by a collective 20-4.
And after their victory over the defending Patriot District and Northern Region champion Bruins, the Spartans face the yet-to-be-beaten Lancers on Friday.
But West Springfield may have already placed itself among the early favorites to take the region with its performance on Tuesday night.
“Any win against Lake Braddock is a great win,” said Wahl, who went 1-for-4 with a run scored offensively. “We’re definitely going to be ready for anyone now, because Lake Braddock is one of the best teams we’re going to play.”
Added James, whose cautious optimism revealed more caution than optimism: “You have to keep things in perspective. It’s the third game of the season. It’s a regular-season win, but it’s good for now.
“We have a lot of things we need to work on. But it’s better than a loss.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
West Springfield (3-0) 500 000 0 — 5 10 2
Lake Braddock (1-1) 001 000 0 — 1 1 0
Pitchers:
WS – Wahl (W) – CG, ER, H, 13 K, BB
LB – Lindemuth (L) – 4 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 5 K, 4 BB, HBP
LB – Gramsch – IP, 0 ER, 0 H, K
LB – Towns – IP, 0 ER, H, K
LB – Bernoussi – IP, 0 ER, H, K
Pitches – Strikes:
WS – Wahl – 90-68.
LB – Lindemuth – 72-46; Gramsch – 10-8; Towns – 20-12; Bernoussi – 13-7.
Groundouts – Flyouts:
WS – Wahl – 8-1.
LB – Lindemuth – 4-1; Gramsch – 1-1; Towns – 1-1; Bernoussi – 2-0.
Batters Faced – First-Pitch Strikes:
WS – Wahl – 25-15.
LB – Lindemuth – 22-18; Gramsch – 3-2; Towns – 4-1; Bernoussi – 4-0.
Notable Batters:
WS – Renner – 2-2, 2 2B, R, SB, 2 BB
WS – Tobin – 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
WS – McMahon – 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI
WS – Stallings – 1-4, RBI, R
WS – Morgan – 1-2, 2B, R, SB
LB – McLucas – 1-2, 2B, RBI
LB – Fanning – 0-1, BB, R
LB – 1-7 Hitters – 0-21, 13 K
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