|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Senators win the VBL championship
The seventh-seeded Haymarket Senators won the Valley Baseball League Championship Series last Thursday night in Covington, defeating the eighth-seeded Lumberjacks 6-1 in the game and 3-1 in the series.
Starting pitcher Bob Van Woert picked up the win by giving up one third-inning run in 6-plus innings of work. Haymarket held a 2-1 lead after the sixth and added four runs in the top of the ninth for closer Mark Andrews to pick up the save.
"I wouldn't want anyone else with the ball," said Haymarket manager Ryan Fecteau of why he picked Van Woert (6-1, 2.77 ERA) to start, even over the league's best pitcher Grant Sasser (6-0, 1.77 ERA). "He's something else in those situations."
Previously, the rising junior from UConn started the Big East championship game as a freshman. According to third baseman Greg Hopkins, Van Woert had picked up the nickname "Big Game Bob" toward the end of the summer season because of his penchant for performing in the clutch, such as delivering a no-run performance against Fauquier that helped clinch a playoff berth for Haymarket on Aug. 1.
Lead-off hitter Mike Lang, who erupted in the second half of the regular season and finished third in the league in hitting with a .357 batting average, took the series MVP honors. In the final game, he put up a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate, including a go-ahead RBI double in the fifth inning that put Haymarket up for good by scoring catcher Evan Noell from first base.
For the series, Lang hit .579 (11-for-19), collected 3 RBIs, and scored 5 runs.
"He basically carried us into the playoffs," said Hopkins, later adding, "I feel like every time he got up to bat, we expected something out of him."
Fecteau added, "...[Lang's] confidence was just going through the roof. The ball, it probably looked like a beach ball to him at that point."
Noell could not have asked for a better story-like outcome than beating his former team of two years to bring home the Lineweaver Cup on his 21st birthday. The catcher went 2-for-2 with a solo home run over the left field wall in the top of the third to give Haymarket a 1-0 lead. He later drove in two more insurance runs on a single in the top of the ninth as part of a four-run inning.
The Senators had a considerably better day at the plate than the Jacks all around. The three Covington pitchers combined for only two strike outs all game and gave up 12 hits while Haymarket's Van Woert and Andrews earned a total of eight strike outs and allowed six hits.
Covington's lone run came from a solo homer by Lammar Guy in the third inning.
Haymarket's victory marks the first championship for the team since its 2004 inception and gives the Senators a final season record of 29-23. Hopkins, who finished fifth in the league in hitting at .345 and earned a spot on this year's all-star team, said he may decide to end his VBL career by going out on a high note but does not know what the future holds just yet.
"It was priceless. Not only winning in general [but] a lot of friendships were formed that will last a lifetime," he said.
Fecteau is committed to returning to Haymarket for the foreseeable future, at least until he achieves his goal of managing a college team.
"I hope I get to do it for a while," he said, crediting the Senators' owners and host families for helping the program reach its championship moment. "While the opportunity's here, I'll just keep coming back and hopefully we'll just keep being successful."
You must be logged in to post a comment.