Hatfield tosses shutout; Bandits snap out of funk

By Dennis Atwood - sports@nvdaily.com

WOODSTOCK -- Heith Hatfield tossed a complete game, three-hit shutout for the Woodstock River Bandits, whose bats came alive with 11 hits in a 6-0 win over the Rockbridge Rapids on Wednesday.

Hatfield, a right-hander, injured his right triceps in his throwing arm before the end of his freshman season at the University of Memphis and had a rough time in his previous Valley League outing of four innings, accumulating a 6.75 ERA. That number dropped drastically against the Rapids as he faced only 31 batters (four above the minimum), struck out 10 and issued no walks.

Although sporting ice packs on those muscles and the back of his right shoulder after the game, Hatfield was basking in the glow of his impressive outing.

"I didn't know about their batting averages," Hatfield said. "Tonight I felt great. I started getting a little stronger toward the end of the game."

He faced only 11 batters and notched five strikeouts in the final three innings.

"I have five pitches in my mix -- fastball, change-up, splitter, a cutter, and a curveball. My three main go-tos are the change, cutter and split, and I use the curve to keep them off-balance. And it's great working with Shawn [Ablett], my college teammate, as my catcher.

"Our offense put up six runs and that's great to pitch behind. We've kinda been struggling a little bit lately, but we're turning it around."

Rockbridge (3-11) entered the game with five hitters batting .300 or better, topped by switch-hitting Robert Froio at .418 and designated hitter Joe Witkowski at .378. Those two went 0-for-6 against Rockbridge as Hatfield scattered one single each among three Rapids batters.

Third baseman Jonathan Kosco had the best bat for the River Bandits (7-6), going 3-for-5 with two doubles, a single, and three runs, improving his batting average from .211 to .255.

"I feel my vision and rhythm has been good the entire summer so far, it just wasn't happening for me before," Kosco said. "But tonight I came out and it just clicked. The two doubles were fastballs and the single was a curve."

Designated hitter Michael Garza had a two-run double in the sixth, and second baseman John Oropeza was 2-for-4 with an RBI and run.

"It was a tremendous effort by Heith [Hatfield], it gave us a lift from our two-game skid," Woodstock coach Donn Foltz said. "The hitting, and the defense, with a couple of really good plays, helped the cause a little bit.

"We had no concern as Heith went deep into the game, because we were talking to Shawn [Ablett], who said he was still pumping it up. The complete game really helps our bullpen, [which] has done a lot of innings this week and it was a blessing that they could have a night off."

Rockbridge starter George Hebert went five innings, yielding all six runs on eight hits to bring his record to 1-1.

Rockbridge coach Mark Mace heaped all the credit onto Hatfield.

"My hat's off to his pitching performance, he had a great outing," Mace said. "Our kids have a lot of heart and a lot of fight. I wouldn't count us out just yet."