By Craig Juer -- Daily Staff Writer

STRASBURG — Don't blame the Rams if they'd rather walk than run as the weather gets hot. It works just as well.

Strasburg hitters were the beneficiaries of 13 free passes — 11 walks and two hit batsmen — in a 13-2, five-inning rout of Rappahannock County.

"I think that tonight's game we were a lot better at the plate with two strikes," Strasburg first baseman Riley McDonald said. "All the walks, you could tell."

It was McDonald who took the longest walk of the night. With a pair of runners aboard in the first, he swatted a 1-0 pitch from Travis Jenkins over the left field wall, earning himself a 360-foot trot.

"Coach [Jeff Smoot] had me looking middle in, because I'm a power-pull hitter," McDonald said. "When I got the 1-0 count, he gave me a sign to look fastball, and [Jenkins] threw a fastball in. I just hit it."

McDonald's homer made it 4-0 Strasburg, building on the RBI single by his brother, Timmy, in the previous at-bat and giving Timmy a cushion to work with on the mound.

"It helped us out — got us up early and gave us a little confidence," said shortstop Zach Cover, who went 2-2 with a pair of walks, two runs and two RBIs. "We just kept going at it."

The Panthers smartly kept Riley McDonald to a 90-foot jog in the second inning, walking him intentionally and escaping the inning unscathed. But three walks and a hit batsman in the third brought the conclusion of Jenkins' night and led to three more Ram runs, making it 7-1.

"It's a little different team for them, I think," Smoot said of the Panthers, who split with Strasburg a year ago before suffering heavy losses to graduation. "They're a little younger, they don't have as much experience on the mound. Of course, it showed tonight."

The only Strasburg starter to not reach base was catcher Derek Buckley, who was seeing the ball as well as any of his teammates with three hard-hit lineouts and a fly ball to right.

"That's the way it goes sometimes," Smoot said with a chuckle. "No, he didn't have a lot to show for what really was a good night at the plate."

Meanwhile, Timmy McDonald was giving the Panthers fits on the mound. He struck out six in four innings, allowing one earned run on two hits and five walks to improve to 6-0.

"It was a lot faster than normal," said Buckley of McDonald's fastball. "Normally he just pushes it, but today he was throwing."

An RBI single by Sheldon Stickley pushed the lead to 8-2 before Josh Kibler reached and drove in a run on a booted grounder to short. Cover and Timmy McDonald walked in runs to earn a nine-run lead before Riley McDonald drove in two with a grounder and a throwing error at short to make it 13-2.

Justin Rush retired the side in the fifth on a fly out, a groundout and a strikeout to send Rappahannock home early via the mercy rule. The short outing allowed the Rams to save their arms for home-and-home matchups with Clarke County on Monday and Tuesday. McDonald left after 75 pitches Friday.

"We've probably extended [Timmy McDonald] as much in the last week as you can," Smoot said. "He threw last weekend and he closed the other night, so we probably got about all we can expect out of him in the last seven or eight days."

Piling up 13 runs on just seven hits was an exercise in discipline for the Rams (12-1, 3-1 Bull Run), who have improved their collective approach at the plate and are yielding immediate dividends.

"The games before, we weren't patient on two strikes — actually, not patient during the whole at-bat," Riley McDonald said. "And we got a lot of strikeouts, left a lot of people on. But now, since everybody's being more patient, we're getting more runs."

*Contact Craig Juer at cjuer@nvdaily.com

Comment on this story | View Comments |