Prep Baseball Report

LoRusso and McCormick Lead Woodgrove Past Rival


John Nolan
Virginia Assistant Director & Content Manager

UG 6.20

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Thursday night saw No. 12 Woodgrove take its undefeated record across town take on Purcellville rival Loudoun Valley in an important Dulles District matchup. These games carry extra meaning this year with only two teams from the Dulles District advancing to the Region 4C tournament, and those teams being the top two finishers in the regular season. Already holding a win over Riverside, Woodgrove was looking to position itself well for a Region bid and the Wolverines would succeed, beating Loudoun Valley 8-1 on the evening.

Loudoun Valley sent junior Michael Grupe to the mound for the start and he posted a dominant first inning, setting the Wolverines down in order with a pair of strikeouts. In the bottom of the first, Woodgrove senior Jarett LoRusso (Roanoke) struggled to find a tight strike zone, walking three batters. But LoRusso picked a runner off of first and got a big strikeout and was able to escape the threat with no damage, and the game was scoreless after one.

In the top of the second, Woodgrove got the bats going as Justin Hanvey (Radford) and Brady Drawbaugh singled to open the inning. The Vikings ran a wheel pickoff and had Hanvey at second, but the throw got away from the Viking second baseman, allowing both runners to advance into scoring position with no outs. Hunter McCormick took advantage with a single to right-center, driving in both runners and giving the Wolverines an early 2-0 lead.

After LoRusso worked a quick second inning, the Woodgrove bats got going again as Ryan Badillo led off the third with a double and Wyatt Miles reached on a third strike that got away. Hanvey singled to right-center, driving in Badillo and extending the lead to 3-0. After a strikeout, McCormick delivered again with an RBI single to left, driving in Hanvey and opening the lead to 4-0. Woodgrove would add one more run in the inning on a bases-loaded walk before Grupe got a strikeout to end the inning.

At this point the game sped up significantly. LoRusso settled in an began to cruise, with allowing just a hit by pitch and a runner on via error combined in the third, fourth, and fifth innings. Loudoun Valley brought in junior David Gingras to pitch, and he settled things down, working perfectly in the fourth and fifth innings as the game headed to the sixth with Woodgrove still ahead 5-0.

The Vikings would add one more run in the top of the sixth and the Loudoun Valley broke up LoRusso’s no-hit bid in the bottom of the sixth with a debatable infield single that was followed by a clean RBI single to left off the bat of Sam Roberts. LoRusso was able to get Connor Baine (George Mason) to ground out to end the sixth with two runners in scoring position as the game headed to the seventh with Woodgrove leading 6-1.

The Wolverines picked up two more runs in the seventh, with McCormick getting his fourth RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly. Junior Nick Lockhart (Virginia Tech) came in to throw a scoreless seventh inning and bring the game to an end with a final score of Woodgrove 8, Loudoun Valley 1.

For Loudoun Valley, Grupe took the loss with 3 IP, 5 R, 8 H, 2 BB, 7 K while also going 1-2 with a BB and a R. Roberts was 1-3 with an RBI. Gingras went 4 IP, 3 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K.

For Woodgrove, LoRusso earned the win with 6 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K. Lockhart went 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K. McCormick was 2-3 with a sacrifice and 4 RBIs. Hanvey was 2-4 with a SB, an RBI, and 3 R. John Marquart was 2-4 with an RBI and Dylan Trexler was 1-2 with 2 BB and an RBI.

 

 

Scouting Notes

Woodgrove

-LoRusso was 82-86, touching 87. Change-up was 75-77. Curveball was 68-71.

-Lockhart was 84-87, touched 90. Curveball was 68-71.

-Hanvey was smooth at short and showed good approach and barrel awareness

-McCormick showed some batspeed and shortness with his swing

 

Loudoun Valley

-Grupe was 85-88, touching 89 when he wanted to. Change-up was 77-78. Curveball was 69-72.

-Gingras was 75-76, curveball 64.

 

For full scouting notes and videos, watch for the VA/DC Scout Blog post for this game early next week.

 

 

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