Cardinals extend home win streak, top Generals

By Greg Brill -- sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Ross Speed had to keep pounding the strike zone.

Par for the course during Thursday night's start against Waynesboro, Speed would start innings well for the Cardinals, let the Generals get runners on base, and work his way out of trouble.

"He's the kind of guy if he gets you to two strikes, he puts you away with his slider," Front Royal manager Joe Scarano said of Speed. "He used that to overcome some of the adversity he's seen."

That he had high school teammate Doug Oney as his catcher went a long way in guiding Speed through his seven innings, as Front Royal picked up a 5-0 Valley Baseball League win at Bing Crosby Stadium.

"It's fun to get back and play with him again," Oney said. "It's been three years almost. It's real fun to see how far he's come."

The Generals got a quality start from Mike Hernandez, who went into the eighth down only 1-0. But the Cardinals (15-12) were able to lock down their eighth straight win at home with a four-run frame, which included a three-run homer to left from James Roche.

The blast extended Front Royal's streak to 10 games with at least one homer. Still, on this night, it was the effort of Speed (3-2) that proved most valuable.

"I felt like I was pitching with runners on the whole game, but I got a couple big strikeouts here and there and help from my defense all game," Speed said. "Yeah, I was pitching in a lot of tight situations. But I managed to get out [of trouble]."

Right from the start, Speed showed a lot of give and take. His line to the first four batters: Two strikeouts, two walks. But as he did for most of his time on the hill, Speed got out of trouble with a big defensive play from a teammate -- this one a leaping grab from second baseman Jesse Henry, who got a start in the field for the first time since June 15, on Ryan Matthews' liner.

Speed would strand a runner in scoring position in each of the next two innings before throwing a perfect inning in both the fourth and fifth.

Oney scored Front Royal's first run in the third inning with his gritty play, bunting for a hit, moving to second when he forced an overthrow, to third on a sacrifice bunt by Buddy Sosnoski, and to home for a 1-0 lead on Anthony Ottrando's ground out to third.

Speed knew he had to keep mixing his pitches well, even with Waynesboro (13-13) mired in a recent slump.

Heading to the sixth, Speed had retired 11 of 13 during one stretch. Then after hitting Tony Caldwell with a pitch leading off the sixth, Speed started a 1-6-3 double-play on a grounder hit by Brett Thomas.

Still, Speed had to fight on. Matthews singled and Sean Burkovich, seeing the Cardinals had a pitch-out called for, stuck his bat out and went the other way to the left-field corner, moving Matthews to third with his double. But Speed won the matchup again, getting Corey Kovanda to hit a harmless fly to left to end the inning.

In his final inning, Speed allowed a single up by Rhett Stafford and walked No. 9 batter Mark Dvoroznak. But Waynesboro, which would leave 12 runners on base, couldn't move the runners over when Alex McClure hit a foul pop for the first out on the first pitch he saw from Speed.

Speed then overwhelmed Rob Kral with a called strike three and got Caldwell to ground out to short.

Speed allowed five hits and walked four in his seven innings. He also had eight strikeouts, the second highest total he has put up in his five starts and did not allow a run for the first time.

"That's the best he's been all year and there's no doubt he has great stuff," Scarano said. "It's always been about control and when he can throw strikes, he's one of the best pitchers in the league, I would say."

Jeff DeCarlo came on and earned his first save to finish out the staff's first shutout.

Front Royal cut loose, late, offensively. Jared Simon, who went 2-for-4 to extend his VBL-best hit-streak to 19 games, looped a single to left to plate Sosnoski and Roche went deep with two outs to leave no doubt of a win.

The Cardinals have won nine of their last 12 overall.