Cardiac Kids: Pride Win in the Seventh Again

Baseball sponsored by diamond sports training

By: Dan Sousa

Leesburg (Apr. 4, 2007) – For the second time in a week the Heritage High School baseball team came away with a dramatic seventh-inning come-from-behind victory, this time defeating Potomac Falls 4-3 Tuesday on Joey Donofrio’s two-run hit.

Heritage (3-1 in district, 5-2 overall) sails into Spring Break down just one game in the loss column to AA Dulles District leader Broad Run. Potomac Falls (2-3, 4-4) will look to regroup after the layoff as the Panthers suffered back-to-back district losses this week.

Andrew Crane earned the victory in relief for the Pride Tuesday night. Pride reliever Andrew Crane picked up his first win of the season by working a hitless 3.2 innings with six strikeouts and one walk. Crane relieved starter John Rogerson in the fourth, inheriting a bases-loaded situation, and he induced a ground ball that looked like a double play, but turned into an out at second and a throwing error that added two runs to the Panthers score to make it 3-0 PF. The Panthers had scored one in the first on doubles by Greg Woodlief and Aaron Sweger.

Crane started the game-winning rally by drawing a walk to lead off the inning. The Pride followed with back-to-back base hit bunts by Brenton Peters and Grant Groves (1-for-3, sacrifice fly) to load the bases. Donofrio (2-for-4) then drove a hard single to left by a drawn-in infield to score pinch runner Korey Flinton and Peters to end the game. Donofrio earlier this year had a bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning against Freedom to tie the game and then scored the game-winning run on a bases-loaded walk.

Heritage’s Jon Gagnon made a trip to Loudoun Hospital after being hit in the face by a Jacob Kline pitch in the sixth inning. Gagnon was released with some swelling, but no broken bones. Kline held the Pride in check for 5.1 innings before giving way to Cory Flickinger who struck out two of the three Heritage batters he faced to end the sixth inning.

Rogerson went 3.1 innings for Heritage, allowing three earned runs, striking out five while walking six.

Sweger just missed a home run in the first inning when his RBI double hit the wall and chased home Woodlief. The Panther bats were silent after that with only Woodlief collecting a hit the rest of the way. The Panthers two runs in the fourth came courtesy of two walks, a fielder’s choice and an error.

The Pride finally broke through in the fifth inning on a double by Joe Laura, a single by Jacob Martinez and a sac fly by Grant Groves to close the gap to 3-2.

Rogerson and Crane finished with a combined 11 strikeouts.