Brown stellar in Hornets’ victory

STANARDSVILLE — When D.J. Brown committed to play baseball for James Madison University last year, the Dukes were hoping that the Orange County coaching staff would help the young ace work on his breaking ball to complement his fastball.
“If D.J. gets that curveball-slider across the plate for a strike it makes his fastball a little bit tougher to hit,” said Hornets coach Jesse Lohr. “It gets him ahead in the count and that’s what JMU is looking for right there. That’s what we’re looking for as a high school team.”
Brown had no trouble dropping in his curve for a strike on Thursday as he spun together a gem of a performance, giving up just one hit in Orange’s 9-0 victory over William Monroe.
“I think we’ve got to that confident stage where we just go out and we know it’s time to go to work,” Lohr said. “We know that we’ve got 21 outs to get. If we score enough runs, and our pitchers continue to do what they’ve done all year, we’re going to be happy at the end of the ball game.”
Monroe got off to a good start against Orange, retiring the Hornets in order in the top of the first and leading off the bottom of the inning with a Colby Fitzgerald single.
It was the only hit Brown surrendered as he retired 20 of the next 21 batters he faced. He struck out seven while issuing just one walk.
“It kind of frustrated me,” Brown said of Fitzgerald’s hit. “But I went back there and just threw strikes and tried to get my defense involved.”
Monroe (7-8, 3-5 Jefferson) put the ball in play early in the game but the Orange defense was flawless, providing its pitcher with all the support he needed.
“When I got more confidence in my defense I started throwing more strikes,” Brown said “And then, the more I threw, the more warmed up I felt. My pitches started working a lot better.”
After collecting just one strikeout in the first four innings, the senior hurler fanned six of the last nine batters he faced.
“It’s pretty easy to catch for him when he’s doing that well,” said Hornets catcher Lazaro Torres. “You don’t have to do much but just let him pitch.”
While the Dragons had a tough day at the plate trying to deal with Brown, things were tougher on defense.
Monroe committed seven errors in the field and the Hornets (16-0, 9-0) made them pay, as six of the nine runs were unearned.
“That’s a sign of a good baseball team,” Lohr said. “You make the other team pay for the mistakes they make. And I’m not saying our team speed is the best in the state, but we threaten every play with first base. You have to be perfect, you know, make a bang-bang play. We make teams rush the play just little bit and that’s because one through nine, we have guys who can run down the line.”
And while cutting down on the errors would have made the game more interesting, the Dragons still had to find a way to hit Brown.
“We definitely beat ourselves there, but that was a heck of a performance by a really good pitcher,” said Monroe coach Mark Arrington. “He was able to control everything we did. He brought his ‘A’ game and we didn’t. And the further we got in the hole, it was almost like a snowball effect and we kept on going downhill. And honestly, just one run with the way they were pitching, that might have been enough.”
It’s been a tough week for the Dragons — they’ve dropped their last two games to the top two teams in the district — Orange and Western Albemarle.
Arrington hopes his squad can rebound.
“We know we can play with everybody,” Arrington said. “It’s just a matter of beating the top of the district. Next to Orange and Western everyone is clumped together. All you need to do is get a home playoff game. All of sudden you can get to a second round game against [Orange or Western]. If you can beat them, you’re in the championship game and going to regionals.”
The Hornets scored two runs for four straight innings beginning in the top of the third.
Six different Orange players batted in at least one run, with Brown leading the way with three despite not registering a hit.
Torres provided plenty of offense in his four at bats by hitting three doubles.
Orange travels to Madison County on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Monroe travels to Fluvanna County on Tuesday at 5 p.m.