by Aaron Grayagray@digitalsports.com(Click on "videos" icon above to see action clips and post-game interviews)Offense can come from the mostly unlikely places in a postseason pitcher's duel.
Senior third baseman
Bryson Kelmer hit two home runs -- he had hit only one during his entire varsity career to date -- which propelled the Hanover High School baseball team to a 3-0 victory over Cox in the Virginia Group AAA state semifinals at Westfield High School in Chantilly on Saturday.
In the other semifinal, Menchville held on for a 6-5 win over West Springfield and will meet Hanover in the state championship at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Westfield.
A senior-laden Hawks (24-1) squad, out of Mechanicsville, will take aim at its first state baseball title while the Monarchs (25-2) from Newport News continue a playoff run that has taken a few twists. Menchville topped Stafford, 6-4, in a quarterfinal game that concluded early Saturday afternoon because of a rain delay, just hours before they met the Spartans in the semifinals.
"For these 10 seniors, the feeling is just awesome," said Hanover coach
Charlie Dragum, whose team got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth inning. "We're not done yet. We're going to come out again tomorrow and we're just really excited."
Hawks' starting pitcher
Jake Mayers retired three straight after loading the bases in the fourth and Kelmer followed by blasting a two-run home run over the wall in dead center in the top of the fifth.
"I've been in a real slump the whole playoffs," said Kelmer, who added an insurance solo shot in the seventh. "I only had two hits dating back to the first round of districts.
"There was a man on second and I was just trying to get him in. I'm not a power hitter at all but I saw the ball well and was bale to get it done."
Kelmer also had an assist from third base during the momentum-shifting fourth inning.
"(Kelmer) was clutch tonight. I can't think of a better way to get out of slump than two home runs," said Mayers, who pitched six scoreless innings and struck out nine, including three in the sixth when Cox had two runners on and the tying run at the plate.
"(During the fourth-inning jam) I just wanted to throw strikes and make them put the ball in play. The defense stepped up and made the plays we needed."
Said Dragum: "When you get out of something like that, it's a huge momentum changer. We used that and it carried over to the offense."
Junior infielder
Jared Lipscombe reached base with a lead off walk in the fifth. He advanced to second on a passed ball but that right before Kelmer went yard for the first time.
"It was 2-1 and he threw me a fastball," Kelmer said. "I knew he was going to come in on me a little bit and I saw it well."
In the other semifinal, Menchville senior pitcher
Jharel Cotton took the mound in the third inning with his team trailing by two runs and was unstoppable. He fanned nine of the first 12 batters he faced and finished with 12 strikeouts, four hits and just one run.
"I wanted to come back and win because this is my last year," said Cotton, the team's No. 3 pitcher, who retired the Spartans in order in the fourth. "They we're coming and we were shutting them down. We just tried to keep them off balance and my catcher was doing a great job."
That catcher, sophomore
Jeffrey Gray, also got the job done with his bat. After Cottel tied the score, 4-4, in the fifth, Gray smacked a two-RBI single to right field for the go-ahead runs in the sixth.
Senior
Bryn Renner, who hit a solo home run in the first for West Springfield, drove in a run in the seventh with base a hit to right field to slice the lead to one but the Monarchs' defense took care of the rest.
"It's been a long week," Menchville coach
Phil Forbes said. "It's taken five days, two hours and 37 minutes to play one game and two innings but I'm very happy to be here and proud to be a part of this program."
The Monarchs made the trip up from the beach on Tuesday to find out their quarterfinal game was postponed. They returned to Newport News that day and came back up North on Wednesday. It was tied at 4 through six innings before torrential rains forced an overnight delay.
They picked Thursday as a make-up day but were rained out again. The game was moved further south to Richmond on Friday afternoon but the weather took an unexpected turn South and forced a 1 p.m. continuation at Westfield on Saturday.
Cotton took a pitch off his hands while at bat in the fifth but convinced his coach to keep him in the game.
"I was ready to put Austin (Chrismon) in because he was ready," Forbes said. "But he told me, 'Coach, I'm going all the way. I got it for you.' "
Senior outfielder
Devorn Lake belted a first-inning, two-run homer for the Monarchs while senior
Jake Weinreich slide face first into second for an RBI-double in the fourth.
Renner took a 3-1 pitch down the third-base line to score the third run for the Spartans and junior
Charlie Morgan followed that up with an RBI-single up the middle to open a 4-2 lead for West Springfield in the third.
"We played well enough to win," said Spartans coach
John James, whose team ended a 16-game win streak and fell to a Virginia opponent for the first time this season.
"We made things interesting in the end but we shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. The guys played tough and I'm proud of them."
Senior pitcher
Mike Kent finished with eight strikeouts for West Springfield and got out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fifth by striking out the next two batters.
Hanover (24-1) 000 020 1 - 3 5 1
Cox (n/a) 000 000 0 - 0 6 0WP: H - Mayers. LP: C - Matte.
Menchville (25-2) 200 112 0 - 6 10 1
West Springfield (23-5) 202 000 0 - 5 9 1WP: M - Cottel. LP: WS - Kent.
