By Craig Orndorff -- Daily Sports Correspondent

STRASBURG — It was about this time last year when Strasburg's offense came alive. The Rams pummeled opposing pitchers throughout the postseason and didn't stop until they captured the Group A title.

Strasburg is hoping Thursday's 15-5 win over Clarke County is the spark that unleashes a repeat performance this year.

With the victory, the Rams clinched the Bull Run District regular season title and a berth to the Region B Tournament.

Strasburg locks its spot in the postseason and avenged an 8-3 loss to the Eagles earlier in the season. Rams coach Jeff Smoot said revenge wasn't a factor on Thursday.

"We had more important things to worry about," he said. "We just had to get in the daggone regionals. That was our primary concern, I don't think anything else really mattered."

Both squads were playing their third game of the week. The Eagles were coming off a 4-1 loss to Manassas Park. Strasburg edged Madison County 2-0 on Wednesday to move into first place. They needed to win to clinch the district title.

Each teams' third pitcher took the mound, T.J. Downey for the Rams and John Owens for Clarke.

Riley McDonald started the scoring in the first on a two-out RBI double. Jeremy Batka homered in the second to tie it at 1-1.

A pair of infield singles and two hit batters by Owens gave Strasburg a 3-1 lead after two frames. Cliff Webb added a solo shot in the third, and the Eagles tied the game in the top of the fourth on a Rams error.

But as champions do, the Rams answered immediately with four runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Josh Kibler opened with a single and Zach Cover and Timmy McDonald drew walks. Owens was called for a balk, scoring Kibler.

With runners at second and third, Riley McDonald singled to score Cover. A throwing error on the play allowed Timmy McDonald to score. Derek Buckley made it 9-5 on a sacrifice fly.

Riley McDonald got his third RBI of the night with a double off the wall in the fifth. He had a pair of doubles and a single to lead the Rams at the plate.

"I think everybody realized that this was an important game," Riley McDonald said. "[Wednesday] night was important, but if we didn't win tonight, [Wednesday] night's game wouldn't have mattered. We wouldn't be in first in the district."

"We were a lot better on offense tonight," he added. "We know this is the time when we have to pick it up."

Kibler had three singles and Cover added two hits.

"I think we played pretty well offensively," Smoot said. "We had to wait Owens out a little bit. We felt like if we were patient we could run his pitch count up. Even though we would've liked to have had more runs going into the middle innings, there were some things that we accomplished that paid off when we got to the end of the game."

T.J. Downey scattered three hits in four innings of work for the Rams, walking three and allowing two earned runs.

Clarke County is the fifth seed in the Bull Run District tournament. The Eagles travel to Manassas Park for the quarterfinals on Monday.

Strasburg will host the winner of that game in the semifinals on Tuesday.

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