By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area
Click the links above for all photos and videos from the Northern Region Tournament opening-round game!
An ice cream truck U-turned on Old Mount Vernon Road in the distance, playing a familiar tune on its speakers, but one atypical for its playlist: “Silent Night.”
It could not have been more symbolic, though, of what Bruin senior starter Brian Derner was doing to the Major bats.
Derner, a second-team All-Region honoree, pitched four perfect innings — only allowing two batters to even reach a two-ball count — as Lake Braddock beat Mount Vernon, 7-2, on the road in the opening round of the Northern Region Tournament on Friday.
“I was a little angry,” said Derner, who Bruin coach Jody Rutherford pulled early to save his arm for later rounds. “But my arm was kind of nagging me, so I think it was the best decision.”
Added Rutherford, on the difficulty of removing a pitcher working on a perfect game: “It was not hard at all. To be perfectly honest, I went to him and he was disappointed at first. But I told him why we were pulling him and he was all for it.
“That’s an individual thing and we’re about the team goal, which is winning a championship.”
But the way Derner was dealing, the crowd might have had reason to request a refund with the premature Bruin relief.
Derner retired all 12 batters he faced, including seven by strikeout and four by groundout. He threw 34 of his 46 pitches for strikes and started eight of the 12 Major at-bats with first-pitch strikes.
With the left-hander having suffered an off-season snowboarding injury, Rutherford felt this was the first outing in which Derner could be fully-utilized and expected the break-out game.
“I told the guys before the game this was the first time we’ve been, what I thought was, 100-percent this year,” said Rutherford, winner of two Northern Region titles in his eight seasons at Lake Braddock. “Brian has kind of been inching his way back and each outing he has been pitching better and going longer.
“I thought today would be his coming-out.”
Added Derner, who threw no more than four balls in any inning: “I don’t think it was a matter of working back, I think it was a matter of innings and it ended up working out real well.
“I just tried to pound the zone, hit strikes, paint the corners and throw the curveball for a strike.”
Ironically, it was during the ice cream truck’s second round that Mount Vernon finally made some noise, as senior Mike Murdock broke up the no-hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning, smacking a one-out triple to centerfield.
Despite the late-waking Major bats, though, the home side spotted the Bruins too many runs to overcome. Lake Braddock was error-free behind what proved four different pitchers, while Mount Vernon committed five fielding errors that led to six unearned runs in the first four-plus innings.
The Bruin defense was highlighted by the play of junior first baseman Bobby Klein, who routinely picked a pair of throws out of the dirt and, offensively, added a three-run home run in the third inning to start the scoring.
“He’s been a good player for us all year,” Rutherford said of Klein, who has five home runs in 20 games. “He leads the team in home runs; he’s come up with some big at-bats when we needed, so I can’t say enough about him.
“He made a couple really nice plays at first base tonight. He picked a couple balls, caught that pop-up down the line. Those are really solid plays by a first baseman at the high-school level.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
Lake Braddock (15-5) 003 040 0 — 7 5 0
Mount Vernon (15-9) 000 001 1 — 2 2 5
Pitchers:
LB – Derner (W) – 4 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 7 K, 0 BB
LB – Towns – IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K, BB
LB – Gramsch – IP, H, ER, 0 K, 0 BB
LB – Lindemuth – IP, H, ER, 3 K, 0 BB
MV – Murdock (L) – 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, K, 5 BB
MV – Carpenter – 2.1 IP, H, 0 ER, K, BB
Pitches – Strikes:
LB – Derner – 46-34; Towns – 22-12; Gramsch – 13-10; Lindemuth – 22-13.
MV – Murdock – 75-50; Carpenter – 29-17.
Groundouts – Flyouts:
LB – Derner – 4-1; Towns – 0-1; Gramsch – 3-0; Lindemuth – 0-0.
MV – Murdock – 9-4; Carpenter – 1-4.
Batters Faced – First-Pitch Strikes:
LB – Derner – 12-8; Towns – 4-4; Gramsch – 4-2; Lindemuth – 5-3.
MV – Murdock – 25-18; Carpenter – 8-5.
Notable Batters:
LB – Klein – 1-3, HR, 4 RBI, BB, R
LB – Owens – 1-4, 2B, RBI
LB – Weidinger – 2-4, 2B, R
LB – Towns – 0-1, 2 HBP, BB, SB, 2 R
MV – Murdock – 1-2, 3B, K, R
MV – Bryant – 0-3, RBI, K
MV – Quigley – 1-3, 2B, K
Runners Left on Base:
LB – 5
MV – 1
Time of Game:
1 hour, 47 minutes.
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