Hornets ready to paint the town Orange

ORANGE — It’s been a long week for the Orange County baseball team. For most teams still alive, play has been continuous.
However, the Hornets haven’t taken the field since their only loss of the season last Tuesday at the hands of longtime rival Louisa County.
So for the last week, Orange coach Jesse Lohr has been getting his team to zero in on the fundamentals, something that the Hornets mastered during their 20-game win streak.
“I think in the series of practices that we’ve had in the last six and seven days, we’ve gotten back to basics,” Lohr said. “They’ve been high-energy practices where we’ve been doing things the right way, something we’ve been doing all year long, but that loss brought back a new focus.”
The Hornets’ season is on the line tonight as they host Sherando in the Region II semifinals. The winner clinches a Group AA tournament bid.
Taking the mound for Orange
(20-1) will be junior Derek Justice, with D.J. Brown on hold and ready should the game head into extra innings.
“D.J. pitched the last regular-season game and then also pitched in our only tournament game,” Lohr said. “I believe in both of these guys, so I can’t just always go with one pitcher.
“We’ll set up our rotation with Derek and then D.J., if we have to use him we can or we’ll use him on Friday if we win. [Tonight] is a must win. We’ll do whatever it takes to win this ball game, even if that means throwing Derek for five innings and D.J. for two.”
That must-win attitude can wreak havoc on teams, but with six seniors who’ve played four years, Orange is entering the game on an even keel.
“I think the team is pretty well relaxed,” Lohr said. “I don’t think there’s any overconfidence, Louisa helped us with that. I think we’re focused and we’re eager to play.”
In terms of taking down Sherando, Lohr and his team know what they need to do.
Pitching and defense aren’t an issue this season. In the last two games base runners and runs have been.
“Even in our loss we pitched well,” Lohr said. “We haven’t got that big hit in our last few games and haven’t got on base as much as we’ve wanted to. Then when we have gotten on base, we’ve had issues with our base running. We have to be smarter and execute our situations better and that’s what we’ve done in practice over the last week.
“We’re going to get guys on base whether it’s beating out throws and forcing errors or getting base hits. We’re going to be stealing bases. We’re going to get back to Orange County baseball — putting guys on bases and creating action.”
The one thing the Hornets do have going for them is familiarity. Lohr scouted the Warriors (15-5) in their quarterfinal game against Broad Run, and the Hornets will have the home crowd behind them.
“It’s going to be a good feeling to have some familiar faces out there and a lot of great energy,” Lohr said. “I’d like to see this town painted Orange [tonight].”
Orange and Sherando begin play at 7 p.m. at Porterfield Park in Orange.