Mountaineers Hold Off Grottoes Rally, Win 13th Game

By Nolan Potts
Massanutten held a 7-0 lead after three innings, but Grottoes scored four run in the sixth inning as well as three more in the ninth. In the end, the Mountaineers held on and won the ballgame, 8-7.

Massanutten got on the board in the second inning on a single by designated hitter Colin Troilo that ended up turning into a two-base error and allowed Dawson Russell to score all the way from first base.

The bats came alive for the Mountaineers in the third inning as the team got RBI singles in the inning from Haden Madagan, Russell, and Harrison Madagan, as well as RBI triples from Troilo and Nate Brookshire to extend the lead to seven runs.

Massanutten’s Garett McAlexander, making his third start of the season on the mound, was great through five innings as he had blanked the Cardinals up to that point. But, the Cardinals offense broke through in the sixth inning with RBI singles from Tristan Gordon, Grayson Shifflett, and Austin Nicely, as well as an RBI double from Tucker Garrison to make the score 7-4.

Dominic Pancione would enter on the mound for Massanutten and give them two outstanding innings of relief in the seventh and eighth innings. The hard-throwing right-hander did not allow a hit and the only baserunner to reach was via an error.

The Mountaineers’ last run would come courtesy of a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kaden Spaid that scored courtesy runner Bodie Pullen from third. Massanutten catcher Porter Craver doubled down the left field line and advanced to third on an error, and then Spaid came up and hit a fly ball to drive in the run.

The Cardinals’ bullpen did a great job of keeping the Mountaineers’ bats in check after the third inning as Landon Bruce threw three scoreless innings, Clayton Michael moved to the mound from his usual spot at shortstop and threw two innings and allowed one unearned run on the sacrifice fly from Spaid. Austin Nicely then came in from center field in the ninth for his first pitching appearance of the season. The tenth-round draft pick in the 2013 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros and current pitching coach at Bridgewater College showed he can still get it done on the mound as he struck out the side in the inning.

Entering the bottom of the ninth, Massanutten led 8-5. Austin Nicely greeted Mountaineers’ reliever Mason Sawyers, who entered for Pancione to start the inning, with a home run over the right field wall, and after the next batter, Dylan Nicely, walked, Massanutten brought in Andrew Baugher to try to finish out the game. Cam Irvine singled to make it first and second with no one out. Clayton Michael then reached on an error on a ball that looked like a routine double play and enabled Nicely to score and Irvine to move up to third base. Baugher would strike out Tristan Gordon and then induce a groundout from Theo Wood for the first two outs of the inning, but Wood’s groundout scored Irvine and advanced Michael to third base and made the score 8-7.

The next batter was Jaden Rose, and with a 1-1 count, Baugher’s pitch made its way to the backstop. Michael attempted to score from third and tie the game, but Porter Craver hurried to the backstop and made a perfect throw to the hustling Baugher who applied the tag and got the speedy Michael to end the game on a very close play at the plate.

All nine Mountaineer starters had at least one hit, with Haden Madagan leading the way with three hits and Kaden Spaid and Colin Troilo each getting two hits of their own. Russell had two RBI, while Troilo, Brookshire, both Madagan brothers, and Spaid each drove in one.

The Cardinals got two hits each from Austin Nicely and Dylan Nicely, as well as two RBI from Austin Nicely and one RBI each from Gordon, Garrison, Wood, and Shifflett.

The Mountaineers (13-11) finish as the number four seed and will take on the number five seed, Stuarts Draft, in the first round of the playoffs. After starting the season 3-9 in the first twelve games, Massanutten went 10-2 in the last twelve games of the season.

Grottoes (15-9) had already clinched the number two seed prior to this game so the loss did not affect their playoff positioning, and they will take on the number seven seed Broadway in the first round.

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