Cardinals snap losing streak in big way

By Ben Brooks -- sports@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Front Royal ended its five-game losing streak in a big way Thursday night.

The Cardinals pounded out 15 hits and put together three innings of three or more runs in an 11-4 Valley Baseball League victory over slumping Winchester at Bridgeforth Field.

The Cardinals (5-5), who scored just seven runs total during their five-game slide, got offensive help from both expected and unexpected sources.

Cardinals leading hitter and RBI man Jared Simon went 3-for-5 with a two-run single and a solo home run. The first baseman hopes Thursday's offensive onslaught is just as contagious for his team as the previous slump.

"This could be the start of another streak," Simon said, referring to the Cardinals' four straight wins to open the summer. "Getting off to that early lead was big. The monkey was kind off our back and it made it easier after that."

The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead with a three-run second inning. Catcher Jimmy Jacquot's first hit of the VBL season was a bases-loaded single that brought home two runs. Brandon Brewer's bunt down the first base line plated another to make it 3-0.

"We just hadn't been hitting with runners in scoring position," Cardinals coach Joe Scarano said. "When Jimmy had that big hit early you could just see the pressure subside."

Winchester (3-7), however, wasted little time evening things up against its North Division rivals. The Royals picked up a run off Cardinals starting pitcher Collin McGowan in the second when Aaron Dudley doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Jordan Steranka's run-scoring groundout. Then in the third, the Royals added two runs, one on an infield error and the other on Kevin Garcia's sacrifice fly.

Front Royal broke the deadlock with its second three-run inning of the game in the fifth, with Simon's single to right plating Brewer and Cody Kauffman. Greg Van Sickler's bloop double down the rightfield line scored Simon for the 6-3 lead and chased Royals starting pitcher Brett Stackhouse.

Cardinals reliever Dan Rossignol worked 2 2/3 innings of strong relief to pick up the win. The 5-foot-7 junior righthander from Rhode Island came in during the fifth and escaped a Winchester threat. He retired seven of the eight batters he faced, with the only blemish being Gabriel Ortiz's solo homer to left to lead off the bottom of the seventh that trimmed Front Royal's lead to 6-4.

The Royals made things interesting in the eighth by loading the bases on three singles. However, Front Royal reliever Matt Bowling settled down and induced Ortiz on an inning-ending groundball.

The Cardinals blew the game open in the top half of the ninth by scoring five runs on six hits against Royals reliever Matt Zahel. James Roche, who entered the game batting .168, highlighted the inning with a two-run homer. Kevin Brashears, Van Sickler's Shenandoah University teammate, added an RBI single in the inning, as did Kauffman.

"It definitely feels like it's snowballing," Royals coach John Lowery Jr. said. "We just have to continue to try to do the little things. We've had our chances to win almost every game here lately. We just have to play more consistently."