MC wins baseball district opener

On a cold and windy night (April 6) in Luray, Madison starting pitcher Dustin Kirby looked in good shape to get his first varsity baseball win. Through three and a half innings, the Mountaineers led the Bulldogs by a score of 6-0.

Dylan Shifflette got the scoring started for MCHS in the first when he smashed a two-run homer over the left center field fence for a 2-0 lead. Kyle Louk led off the second with a double and later scored on Casey Campbell’s double, increasing the lead to 3-0. Madison added three more runs in the fourth on the strength of another Louk double, a single by Evan Tucker, a base on balls to Travis Warren and two Luray errors.

Kirby looked sharp through the first three innings, allowing only two hits. However, the Bulldogs first two batters in the fourth safely reached base on hits. A Madison error and three more hits led to four runs and 6-4 score.

Brandon Rutherford entered the game to pitch and quickly ended the Luray rally without further damage. That was his only inning of work as Louk pitched the fifth and sixth innings. Luray subsequently tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth when they picked up two runs on three hits.

Madison appeared to put the game away in the top of the seventh when Collin Tucker lined a bases loaded single into right field driving in three runs and giving Madison a 9-6 lead. Matt Racer came on to pitch the seventh inning. The resilient Bulldogs scored three times in the frame to even the score at 9-9 and force extra innings.

Neither team was able to score in the eighth or ninth innings. Things were looking good for a Mountaineer win in the 10th inning when Collin Tucker lead off with a single and later scored on Racer’s RBI single for 10-9 lead. Once again, Luray answered by scoring an unearned run on two Madison errors to knot the score at 10-10.

The Mounties threatened in the 11th when Jacob Houser lined a base hit to left field but was stranded on base when the Luray shortstop made a hit robbing play for the final out of the inning. In the bottom of the 12th, the Bulldogs grabbed the 11-10 victory by scoring a run on a base hit to center field. The 12-inning game was the longest Mountaineer baseball game in recent memory.

The Mountaineers took out their frustration on the visiting Rappahannock County Panthers the following Thursday. MCHS won the game 12-2. Brandon Rutherford threw a complete game two hitter.

“Coach Mitchell has had me working on my balance,” said the junior hurler. “It paid off tonight.”

Had it not been for two Madison errors, the Panthers would have been shutout.

The Mountaineer offense was clicking on all cylinders as Madison scored early and often. Jacob Houser was 2-4 with 3 RBIs, Kyle Louk scored three times, Travis Warren safely reached base four times, Matt Racer scored twice and stroked a triple off the top of the fence, Evan Tucker had a RBI “sac” fly, Dylan Shifflette had two RBIs, Will Taylor scored twice, Casey Campbell scored a run and had a double and Collin Tucker doubled and scored a run. The win pushed Madison’s record to 3-6, 1-0 in the Bull Run District.

“It was fun tonight,” said Will Taylor. “We just played baseball.”