Cardinals pick up sixth straight home win

By Greg Brill -- sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL --Last season the Front Royal Cardinals might have lost a game like this.

Twice on Sunday night, Winchester came back to trail the Cardinals by a run. And each time, North Division leader Front Royal had an answer.

The Cardinals won their sixth-straight home game, beating Winchester, 7-5, Sunday night at Bing Crosby Stadium in Valley Baseball League action.

The win was the 13th for Front Royal, one more than it had all of last season. The Cardinals (13-11, 7-6 North) have now won seven of their last nine games.

"It's easy when you have the players that you have," first-year Cardinals manager Joe Scarano said. "We have guys that can run, we have guys that can bunt and we have guys that can hit for power, too. I just think we're playing well. Now, we're so confident that they figure they're going to win."

The Cardinals never trailed and got another huge offensive boost down in their batting order from catcher Jim Jaquot. Steve McQuail and James Roche led off the Front Royal third inning with singles and a double-steal, right before Jacquot deposited a fastball from Matt Brazia (2-1) high over the left-center field wall for a 3-0 lead.

"We're a lot more relaxed now and we're not pressing to get wins," Jacquot said. "I mean, runs are coming and we're getting good outings out of pitchers. Things are going well right now and it makes it more fun. Guys just play better with things going like that."

Jacqout also had a single in four at-bats and had his second straight two-hit game. Jacquot has alternated starts at catcher with Doug Oney, and the pair have each hit well of late.

"Early on my swing was pretty long and guys were beating me with the fastball," Jacquot said. "I've learned to shorten my swing. The home run [Sunday] was a fastball, and I just got my hands inside of it and got a good swing on it."

The Cardinals collected 13 hits and got at least one hit from each batter in their lineup.

Getting good run-support again (15 runs in his last two starts, both wins), right-hander Rob Nixon (3-2) won at home for the first time in three starts. Nixon pitched into the seventh inning for the first time, getting lifted after a leadoff single by Brad Wehrmeyer.

"That's what he can do when he's throwing strikes," Scarano said. "He really can. When he's throwing strikes and getting ahead, he's a good one."

In his six-plus innings, Nixon allowed six hits, three runs, three walks and struck out six.

"I felt pretty good; I had just the one bad inning -- the third," Nixon said. "I walked two guys, but after that, I settled down. It was nice to get the three-run homer, too. It's always nice to pitch with run support."

The Royals cut their deficit to 3-2 on RBI singles by Steve Sabins and Aaron Dudley in the third. An infield error in the seventh opened the door to a pair of unearned runs scored by Winchester (10-14, 7-6) to cut Front Royal's lead to 5-4.

But Dan Evatt and McQuail had back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the seventh to get the lead back to three.

Closer Ryan George earned his third save with a less-than-pretty ninth. The right-hander walked a pair, but got Dave Fallon to ground out with two runners in scoring position to end the game.

"Everyone's definitely coming together now," Nixon said. "I think we're going to be tough to beat."