The Lions fought a tough battle Friday night against the Orange County Hornets and came out on top. With Lliam Grubbs on the mound, the Lions secured a 2-1 win over the Hornets and improved to 11-3 on the season.
Grubbs gave up a leadoff walk in the top of the first inning to Junior Christian Koontz who later scored on an error to give the hornets a 1-0 lead over the Lions. Grubbs finished the first with a 6-4-3 double play.
Sophomore Brett Jennings got the call for the Hornets in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Jennings gave up back-to-back singles to Grubbs and Jack McDonald, however Louisa failed to decrease the Hornets’ lead.
Grubbs struck out the side in the top of the second to hold the Hornets to a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the second, lead off batter Tyler Earley reached on an error. Owen Agee followed with a bunt single. Earley was brought in by Austin Nicholas, however, Agee was tagged out at the plate and the Lions tied the Hornets 1-1.
Grubbs pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third, recording his fourth and fifth strikeouts of the game on less than ten pitches.
McDonald started a two out rally in the bottom of the third with a hard hit double to left field. “The last few games I’ve been struggling,” said McDonald. “Tonight I just calmed down and worked on my swing in the cage. I just went up and focused more.” Senior Tristan Snyder then hit an RBI single to score McDonald giving Louisa a 2-1 lead, but was thrown out at second base to end the inning.
Grubbs continued his dominant pitching in the top of the fourth inning, recording another 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts and a ground out.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jennings threw his first 1-2-3 inning with two groundouts in the inning.
Grubbs had another dominant inning on the mound in the top of the fifth, recording his eighth strikeout of the game. In the bottom of the fifth, Jennings recorded his second 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts to end the fifth.
Grubbs allowed a lead off hit to David Steigler in the top of the sixth inning, who advanced to second on a sac bunt by Jake Guempal. Steigler was stranded after a strikeout to Devin Champion ended the inning.
Grubbs led off the bottom of the sixth for the Lions with a groundout to the second baseman. McDonald then reached on an error, advanced to second after the ball went out of play and was later tagged out. Snyder was then hit by the pitch and advanced to second from a balk by Jennings, however Louisa failed to increase their lead against the Hornets.
Joseph Hensley led off the top of the seventh for Orange with a pop out to the third baseman. Grubbs gave up a single to Keenan Williams. Back-to-back strikeouts from Grubbs ended the game.
Grubbs finished the game with only two hits, eleven strikeouts, and one walk. “We knew that they [Orange] beat us twice last year on tough games,” said Grubbs. “I knew that I wanted to get those two wins back for us.”
Louisa will face Fluvanna on Tuesday, the Lions looking to take back a win against Fluvanna after losing to the Flucos two weeks ago. “We are ready,” said McDonald. “We gotta get that dub against them. We took a tough loss against them last time and we’re ready for them.” Let’s go Lions!
