Lake Braddock baseball takes lead in Patriot
By Jason Mackey
The Lake Braddock and South County baseball teams have mirrored each other in several ways this season. Both teams held 8-1 Patriot District records prior to Friday's matchup, both have obliterated their district competition by nearly eight runs per game and both were playing their third game in as many nights.
As would be expected out of two high school teams playing the back end of a three-game, three-night set, offense trumped defense as several hundred fans packed into Lake Braddock's beautiful park, and the two teams combined for 19 runs and 16 hits.
Although it clubbed four home runs, South County eventually dropped a difficult 11-8 decision to the Bruins, as Lake Braddock posted its second win over the Stallions this season. Lake Braddock is now well-positioned to capture the district tournament's No. 1 seed.
“They put the bat on some balls ... nothing you can do about that. It's the game of baseball,” said Lake Braddock coach Jody Rutherford, whose team has topped West Springfield (4-2), T.C. Williams (20-12) and now South County, running its record to 11-3 overall, 9-1 in the Patriot District.
“I didn't expect them to give up. We continued to play, and we continued to tack on some runs there at the end. We didn't give up and we didn't sit on our lead.”
The lead which Rutherford referenced was obtained during Lake Braddock's half of the third inning. The Bruins totaled nine runs on six hits, an outburst that nearly put the game out of reach and featured a stellar two-run double from right fielder Jordan Tiamson.
South County answered with designated hitter/pitcher Jesse Beal's mammoth two-run homer to right, a shot that took little more than a blink of an eye to leave the park.
“We have strong kids, and when you get it on the fat part of the bat ... it goes a long way,” said South County coach Mark Luther, whose team dropped to 10-5 overall, 8-2 in the Patriot District. “We're a quality-hitting baseball team, and once we got kind of relaxed and let it go, we got back to where we were supposed to be.”
South County settled in nicely to a fifth-inning rally, a spurt started by back-to-back leadoff homers from Nick Digby and Brent Frazier. Lake Braddock sophomore Ryan Lindemuth -- who came on in relief of winning pitcher Brenden Daley -- followed by loading the bases with a single and a pair of walks.
Lindemuth, though, was outstanding at the plate, finishing 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
Daley delivered yet another strong pitching performance for the Bruins, allowing two runs on two hits in four innings of work. The right-hander also struck out five.
But with Lake Braddock's young righty set to work in the fifth and with third baseman Seth Jordan at the plate for the Stallions, Lindemuth fired a pitch that Jordan quickly turned around, sending it into a wall of trees beyond the outfield fence.
Lindemuth ultimately regrouped, striking out the next two batters he faced and allowing only a double the rest of the way to earn the save.
“[Lindemuth] wasn't even really making bad pitches, they were just doing a good job of hitting them,” Rutherford said.
Added Lindemuth, “I think these last couple of games showed which teams are going to rise to the occasion.”