Flucos drop Hornets

PALMYRA - Fluvanna County faced an early deficit, but fought back and pulled away with a 6-5 Jefferson District win over visiting Orange County on Thursday.
“Never quit,” Fluvanna head coach Mike Sheridan said following the win. “We could’ve easily hung our heads a couple of times, but we never quit.”
Fluvanna’s Kyle Via, who threw 105 pitches on the night, pitched six strong innings, striking out seven Hornets batters. The Flucos were led offensively by senior first baseman Josh Garrison, who went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and scored the game winning run off of a Keith Pillow single in the seventh inning.
“I didn’t have my best stuff,” Via admitted, “but I grinded it out and just tried to get ground balls and let them put it in play and let my defense do work.”
Pillow was 3 for 4, and Ryan Foster and Robert Thompson each got two big hits for Fluvanna.
Orange jumped out to a 5-1 lead after three innings, as Trey Maupin had a two-RBI double to put Orange up by four. Fluvanna (7-7, 3-3 Jefferson District) rallied for four runs on six hits in the fourth, highlighted by a towering shot off the fence in left field by second baseman Tyler Denby that just missed leaving the yard.
Denby was thrown out at home for the third out, which would have put the Flucos ahead. Orange (8-6, 3-3) loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth, but Via worked his way out of trouble.
“He came out at the beginning, didn’t have his good stuff, but he never hung his head,” said Sheridan. “I thought he set the tone for our entire team by the way he battled on the mound.”
Foster relieved Via in the seventh inning and retired all three batters he faced. Leading off in the bottom half of the inning, Garrison had visions of being the hero and drove the first pitch he saw to straightaway center field for a shot that hit the fence and almost went out.
“I was thinking about hitting a walk-off the whole time,” Garrison said. “He left a hanger up on the first pitch, and I did what I could do with it.”
Fluvanna will hope to continue moving up in the district standings as the Flucos play at Charlottesville on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.