CHARMCO – James Monroe grabbed an early lead and held on late to defeat Greenbrier West 9-7 on Monday night. The win was a key victory for the Mavericks with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season. James Monroe has now won seven straight games including wins over regional foes Greenbrier West, Charleston Catholic, Riverview, and Summers County.
The Mavericks staked themselves out to what would become a crucial 4-0 advantage in the top of the first inning. After a leadoff strikeout, Garrett Stutts blooped a fly ball to the right field line that Cavalier outfielder Chance Hanna laid out to catch. When Hanna’s dive came up short, the speedy Stutts stretched the contact into a one-out triple. Cooper Ridgeway followed up the Stutts’ effort with an RBI double to left-center for a quick 1-0 lead. Cavalier hurler Cole Vandall recorded the second out of the half-inning via strikeout, getting Luke Fraley to whiff on three straight pitches. The Mavericks, though, kept themselves alive when Owen Jackson ripped and RBI single to left field. The real damage for West came when Jeff Jones launched an 0-1 fastball into the trees beyond the centerfield fence. Jones’ two-run homer made the score 4-0 James Monroe. Vandall would get out of the inning when Cameron Glover flied out to Dale Boone for out number three.
Greenbrier West would counter when Ethan Holliday reached base on a two-out fielder’s choice. With Boone at the plate, Holliday put himself in scoring position with a stolen base. Boone punched a grounder in the direction of Maverick shortstop Stutts that ultimately couldn’t be handled. Holliday rounded third on Stutts’ throw and scored the Cavaliers’ first run as Boone safely reached first. The West scoring threat ended, though, as David Lester fell victim to a Justin Feamster strikeout to end the inning.
Vandall settled in on the mound in the second inning and set the Mavericks down in order. Luke Fraley went down on three pitches, Feamster grounded out to Boone at first, and Hudson Boggess flew out to West centerfielder Tanner Hagy.
Feamster was equal to the task for James Monroe. Feamster got Hayden Ridgeway to ground out, then struck out both Levi Ramsey and Chance Hanna to shut down the Cavalier attack.
Stutts led off the third inning for James Monroe with a long single to left field, then stole second before settling at third as Cooper Ridgeway grounded out to Holliday. Fraley would score Stutts with a groundout to West shortstop Braydon McClung. Vandall would end the top of the third inning with a strikeout of Owen Jackson.
Feamster stifled the Greenbrier West hitters in the bottom of the third. Hagy and McClung both grounded out on three pitches each before Vandall went down swinging, end ing the third inning with the Mavericks leading 5-1.
James Monroe was methodical if nothing else and added to their lead in the top of the fourth inning. Jones singled to left field followed by a Glover walk. With two on and nobody out, Vandall struck out Fraley but followed that with a walk of Feamster to load the bases. With the bases juiced, Jones scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Boggess for a 6-1 lead. Vandall got Stutts to ground into the third out, but the Mavericks led by 5 midways through the game.
West’s bats, however, stayed relatively cold on chilly Charmco evening. Holliday grounded out to third followed by a Boone strikeout. Lester provided a small spark with a single to centerfield, but Feamster recovered to strikeout Ridgeway and preserve the Maverick advantage.
James Monroe added some insurance in the top of the fifth inning. Cooper Ridgeway led off with a single to left field followed by a Fraley base on balls. It looked as if the Cavaliers would get out of the tricky situation when Jackson ripped a full count liner back at Vandall. Vandall plucked Jackson’s ball from the air and swiveled around to double up Cooper Ridgeway at second. Cavalier second baseman Hayden Ridgeway then turned to try to throw Fraley out at first for a triple play. Hayden’s throw hit the infield dirt and skittered into dead ball territory, advancing Fraley to second on the bang-bang-bang play. After such an amazing defensive play, West would be haunted by Jones’ bat once again. The burly senior crushed a double to left center, scoring Fraley for a 7-1 lead. Jones would also plate a run when Glover singled in the left side gap. Now up 8-1, the Mavericks would commit a baseball sin when Glover made the third out at third base on an attempted steal.
Down by seven runs, the Cavalier offense would finally come to life in the bottom of the fifth. Ramsey struck out to start the inning, but Hanna reached base on a hit by pitch to give West some life. Hagy grounded into a fielder’s choice that forced Hanna into a the second out, but McClung stepped in and delivered a double to centerfield giving the Cavaliers two runners in scoring position. Vandall then helped his cause on the mound and stroked a 2-RBI double off the centerfield fence. Down 8-3, Holliday drew a full count walk to give the Cavaliers runners at first and second. The rally stalled, however, when Feamster got a fortunate called strike three to end the inning.
Vandall remained effective on the mound as his pitch count climbed near the nineties. After hitting the leadoff batter, Feamster singled for the Mavericks putting runners at first and second for James Monroe. Lester made a savvy throw to Holliday allowing West to catch Fraley in a rundown between Holliday and McClung for the first out. From there, Vandall got both Boggess and Stutts to fly out to end the Maverick threat.
Feamster started to show some cracks as he walked both Lester and Ridgeway in the bottom of the sixth. Daron Vaughan fell victim to a pinch-hit strikeout, but Hanna walked to load the bases. West tallied their fourth run when Hagy grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Lester. McClung blooped a fly ball to centerfield to score Ridgeway and cut the deficit to three. The rally was put on hold for a second consecutive inning when Vandall flied out to Stutts with James Monroe ahead 8-5.
Hayden Ridgeway took the mound in the top of the seventh for Greenbrier West hoping to shut down the Mavericks and give the Cavaliers a shot at coming back. Hayden was a little cold out of the gate and issued a four-pitch walk to Cooper Ridgeway. Cooper quickly advanced to third on two wild pitches and ultimately scored on a passed ball by Lester. The insurance run would be huge as Hayden recovered to strikeout Fraley, Jackson and Jones.
Down to their final three outs, the Cavaliers would make things interesting. Holliday led off with a full count walk and advanced to second with Boone at the plate. Boone laced a single to center field that scored Holliday, and Boone settled in at second on the throw. Boone then stole third on a slick swipe and scored when Lester ripped a liner into centerfield. With a runner at first, West was in business down 9-7 with no outs. Josiah Hodges, in as relief for Feamster, was pulled in favor of Fraley to try to secure the win. Fraley did the job, getting Hayden Ridgeway to pop out at the mound. Fraley then blew through a strikeout of Ramsey and got Hanna to ground out to second base to earn the save.
Greenbrier West fell to 6-7 with the loss and will host Nicholas County at 5:30 on Wednesday. The Mavericks host Greater Beckley Tuesday evening at 5:30. The Cavaliers and Mavericks meet again on April 24 at Lindside.
JM (10-5): 4 0 1 1 2 0 1 – 9 10 1
GW (6-7): 1 0 0 0 2 2 2 – 7 6 1
JM: Feamster, Hodges, Fraley and C. Ridgeway. GW: Vandall, H. Ridgeway and Lester. WP – Feamster LP – Vandall. S – Fraley. JM: Stutts 2-4, 3B; C. Ridgeway 2-3, 2B, RBI; Jackson 1-4, RBI; Jones 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI; Glover 1-2, RBI; Feamster 1-2. GW – McClung 2-4, 2B ,RBI; Vandall 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Boone 1-4, RBI; Lester 2-3, RBI.
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