Cards rebound, bounce Rebels

By Jeremy Stafford - jstafford@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Following the Front Royal Cardinals' seven-run loss to Winchester on Wednesday, head coach Joe Scarano knew his team needed a little extra work.

So he held an early practice session Thursday morning to try and work his team out of its funk.

For the first two innings against New Market, the practice session seemed a wasted one, as Cardinals pitcher Collin McGowan gave up two runs and the Front Royal hitters failed to score any with the bases loaded and no outs in the first.

Eventually Front Royal squeezed out a 6-5 win over New Market, but Scarano admitted that the win was just as much a product of fortune as it was a result of his teams' hard work.

"I really believe that when you work hard and you respect the game and you do things right, you catch breaks," Scarano said. "Tonight I think we caught some breaks -- I was really nervous, to be honest."

In the top of the ninth, with the Cardinals comfortably ahead of the Rebels 6-3, closer Ryan George took the mound and hit the first batter he faced, Rebels designated hitter Matt Townsend. George then gave up a single to Seth Kivett and walked Jacob Pierce to load the bases.

He was immediately pulled from the game.

And though Dan Rossignol, normally a middle reliever for Front Royal, gave up two unearned runs, he eventually rescued the Cardinals from the jam and saved McGowan's win.

"To put a kid out there with the bases loaded is not easy, it's a tough spot," Scarano said. "And truthfully, it's not like they hit us hard -- we were fortunate to have won that game."

And after that first inning where the Cardinals failed to produce runs, though they had so many opportunities to score, shortstop Kevin Krantz scored from first base on a double from centerfielder Kevin Brashears in the second inning.

From there, Front Royal took advantage of nearly every scoring opportunity possible.

"Everybody was hitting," Scarano said. "Usually this year, it's been two or three guys, and they've kinda been carrying us.

"But today we got hits up and down the lineup, so it was a team contribution."

Cleanup hitter Dan Evatt launched a home run over the leftfield wall in the third inning, and Steve McQuail followed suit, scoring from third base on a single up the middle from Jim Jacquot.

McQuail also homered in the seventh inning, giving the Cardinals an insurance run that they would later need.

First baseman Greg Van Sickler batted 3-for-6 at the plate, as did McQuail, who also scored twice and drove in a run.

Brashears also had an RBI.

For New Market coach Lucas Jones, The Rebels' inability to "fill the bridge" was their Achilles' Heel. Though the Rebels scored twice to start the game and twice to end it, New Market failed to score but one run through the middle innings.

"It's tough when we kinda have to bridge the game in the fourth," Jones said. "[Relief pitcher] Jake Guengerich did a great job keeping us in the game and we had a chance to win it in the end.

"Like I say, you gotta hit it where they ain't sometimes."