Orange County blanks Monroe

ORANGE - The way Orange County starting pitcher Derek Justice was dealing, the Hornets probably didn’t need five runs against William Monroe Friday night at Porterfield Park. Justice got all the run support he needed in the first inning when he helped his own cause with a sacrifice-fly RBI. The rest was icing on the cake.
The Hornets (11-6, 6-3 Jefferson District) tacked on two more runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to knock off the Greene Dragons 5-0. Justice scattered four hits over seven innings to pick up the win for Orange. The sophomore pitcher worked ahead in the count all night against Monroe, helping him to 11 strikeouts and only three walks.
“Derek Justice has been very consistent for us throughout the year,” said Orange County head coach Jesse Lohr. “His fastball can be overpowering at times and that’s because he throws a pretty good changeup and a pretty good slider.”
Justice had all three pitches working Friday as he only allowed one hit over his first five innings of work. The lefty consistently threw first-pitch strikes, allowing him the luxury of working from ahead in the count.
“He did a great job on the mound. He kept us off balance, spotted his fastballs and kept us at bay,” said William Monroe coach Mark Arrington. “I thought we had a few hard hits and, like all season, they were just at people.”
After warding off a few hard-hit liners and clinging to a 1-0 lead over the Dragons, Orange finally got the bats working in the bottom of the fifth. Nelson Vargas led off the inning with a single to left and later scored when leadoff batter Evan Price reached on an error. The miscue proved costly for Monroe as Price scored moments later on a Colsten Bayless base rip to center field.
Vargas came through again in the sixth with a shot to deep center that drove in two runs and set the score at 5-0 in favor of the Hornets.
“Nelson has been big for us in the second half of the season. He’s somebody that can drop a bunt and somebody who can get some big hits for us,” Lohr said of his shortstop.
William Monroe’s best offensive chance came in the sixth inning when the Dragons (5-10-1, 3-6) got two runners on base with one out before Jason Nave, who singled to lead off the inning, was thrown out at third on a Ryan Bouton hit.
“That was me trying to get something going. Most likely I should have held him but I was just trying to get a spark for my team. I’m not going to fault my guys, they gave it everything out there tonight,” Arrington said.
The win assured Orange of a winning season, something that hasn’t happened often recently for the Hornets.
“That’s our 11th win of the season and it’s been a long time since Orange County was able to say that. We are a winning team now, Lohr said. We’ve got 11 wins but we’re not happy with that.”
Vargas went 2 for 3 with two RBI and a run scored on the night. Bayless also recorded two hits and an RBI for Orange.
Jeremy Breeden took the loss on the mound for the Dragons, giving up three runs on four hits in five innings of work. Bouton, Nave, Shane Racer and Shannon Estes had the only hits for Monroe.