Cardinals topple Royals

By Greg Brill -- sports@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Making his third start since joining Front Royal's rotation, Matt Bowling had to be right on with his pitches Friday night at Winchester.

With Royals pitcher Brett Stackhouse keeping Front Royal batters off the bases, Bowling did his part by holding Winchester's dangerous offense in check.

Bowling pitched seven strong innings and the Cardinals got rolling behind home runs from James Roche and Steve McQuail to beat Winchester, 5-1, in a Valley Baseball League game at Bridgeforth Field.

Bowling (5-1) improved to 3-0 as a starter, allowing seven hits, one earned run, one walk and striking out seven.

Stackhouse (4-3) was perfect through four innings and retired the first 13 he faced until Roche sent a deep blast to left-center field to tie the game at 1-1.

"[Stackhouse] was perfect through four and when I went out for the bottom of the fourth I was just smiling, because it's always nice to compete with someone playing their best [as well], obviously," Bowling said. "It drives you to play harder and focus more."

Bowling allowed Winchester (23-21) just a two-out triple to Gabriel Ortiz in the fourth and a run-scoring single to Robert Maddox.

After giving up the run, Bowling followed with three scoreless innings to finish up, fanning Ben Hammer with two on to end the seventh.

"I felt great," Bowling said. "A good start like that kept me focused."

"I was able to keep it small and focus one pitch at a time. That was the biggest thing for me."

Front Royal finished up with Oren Rasowsky pitching two perfect innings.

"Oren, he's been unstoppable," Bowling said. "Especially coming on after me, with his changeup -- it's un-hitable. It's been good for him and good for me."

Front Royal (28-15) went ahead for good on McQuail's leadoff blast in the seventh, which finished Stackhouse. Doug Oney added a sacrifice fly and Jared Simon had a two-run double.

The Cardinals tied a program regular-season record with their 28th win.

"I credit these guys for sticking in there," Front Royal manager Joe Sacrano said. "They won the North Division outright. As a manager, it's not so much what I've done, but what they've done."