Flucos drop Mustangs in nine innings

After battling to a tie through seven innings last night, Fluvanna County used a timely hit from its No. 9 batter and some nifty baserunning to pull out a 6-2 victory in nine innings over Monticello.
Josh Gooch was 0 for 3 on the night entering the ninth, but came through with an RBI double to right field that scored Justin Edwards and gave Fluvanna (5-6, 2-2 Jefferson District) a 3-2 lead. The next batter, leadoff man Robert Thompson, then laid down a perfect bunt as two Flucos base runners came in to score on a textbook squeeze play that gave the visitors all the runs they would need to hold off Monticello.
The win was extra special for Fluvanna head coach Mike Sheridan. Sheridan’s father, who passed away in December, would have turned 82 on Tuesday.
“I didn’t tell anybody because I didn’t want to put any pressure on them,” said an emotional Sheridan after his team’s thrilling win. “My father was a great influence on my life; that’s the reason I love baseball the way I do. I know one thing, he was smiling in heaven when he saw those runs score on that squeeze play. I can’t hand my mom a better gift than to go home and say we won one today the way that Dad played.”
Sheridan’s players didn’t need the extra pressure. Facing Monticello’s tough left-handed pitcher, Jake Pelton, was taxing enough. Pelton kept the Flucos at bay for seven innings, giving up two runs, only one earned, while striking out 11 of the 28 batters he faced. Monticello coach Dick Hartranft decided to pull his starter after he topped the 100-pitch mark through seven innings.
“It’s tough losing in extra innings, but it was a tough pitcher’s duel this evening,” Hartranft said. “Jake did a great job out there. He got up to about 108 pitches and that was it for him as far as I was concerned.”
Pelton’s replacement, Corey North, shut down Fluvanna in the eighth inning before giving up four runs on four hits in the ninth, including the squeeze bunt from Thompson that scored Gooch and Keith Pillow.
“That’s something we work on and Robert Thompson did a great job,” Sheridan said. “That guy [North] is a tough guy to bunt and man, he laid it right on the ground. We got a chance to get an extra run off of it and we got it.”
Despite giving up four runs in the top half of the inning, the Mustangs had a chance to even things up in the bottom of the ninth when they loaded the bases with no outs. Joey Peery doubled to lead off the inning followed by a Dan Kerrigan single and a Devon Dilla walk. But Fluvanna reliever Ryan Foster shut the door on Monticello (3-8, 2-4) by retiring the next three batters in order, preserving the win.
Monticello stranded 12 base runners on the night, a habit that has plagued the Mustangs.
“That’s been our problem all year – getting people on base and not scoring them. Once we get people on base we need to get the timely hits in order to be able to score the guys,” Hartranft said.
Fluvanna, which is back in action tonight against Madison County, was led at the plate by cleanup hitter Josh Garrison, who went 3 for 5 with an RBI, two doubles and a run scored in the game. Matt Hamm picked up an RBI in the second inning for the Flucos.
Monticello scored both of its runs in the fifth inning to take a brief 2-1 lead before Fluvanna tied the game in the top of the sixth. Pelton helped his own cause with a 1 for 4 performance from the plate with an RBI and a run scored.