Battling back: GW clobbered in Game 1, rallies for Game 2 win

Just three outs away from being swept in a doubleheader, the George Washington Eagles found a way to salvage a victory Wednesday night.

In a game that was scheduled for five innings, GW rallied with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to pull even, and James Feldmann delivered a bases-loaded single in the sixth as the Eagles edged Patrick County 6-5 in the second game of a doubleheader at Dan Daniel Park in Danville.

“It feels really good coming back from behind,” said Feldmann. “We knew that we couldn’t give up. But we just had to fight through it.”

The Cougars won the opener 14-4, pounding out 14 hits against three GW pitchers.

“I thought we showed a lot of character the last part of this second game,” said GW coach Wayne Shelton, “scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie it and getting it into extra innings, big hits, a lot of big plays. We didn’t play well the first game. We didn’t catch the baseball. You can’t make four, five, six errors and expect to beat a good team.”

Patrick County took a 5-2 lead in the nightcap, scoring three runs on just one hit in the fourth. Parker Heath drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Cougars ahead, and Eric Renegar followed with a run-scoring single and Jake Williams added a sacrifice fly.

On the mound, Heath managed to hold the Eagles in check for the first four innings, limiting them to two runs on three hits. But GW jumped on reliever Dylan Nelson in the fifth. Morgan Fulton led off with a walk and Christian Clifton followed with a single. Feldmann then singled to drive in Fulton, and Preston Smith tied it with a two-run opposite field single.

GW’s Travis Coates, who took the loss in the first game, returned to the mound in the sixth inning of the second game and kept the Cougars off the board, pitching out of a two-on, one-out jam. Then, in the bottom of the frame, Dylan Tate reached on a throwing error and moved to third on a base hit by Fulton.

The Cougars issued an intentional pass to Clifton and brought their infield in. Feldmann followed with a line drive into left field, plating Tate with the winning run.

“Well, actually, I got two strikes, I kind of knew that a fastball was coming,” Feldmann said. “I didn’t really hit it hard, but I hit it where it needed to go, and it ended up working for us.”

The Cougars scored early and often in the opener, taking advantage of two GW errors in the first inning to score three runs, then sending 10 batters to the plate in the second and tacking on six more runs in the second to build a 9-2 advantage. Starting pitcher Morgan Boles supplied much of Patrick County’s offense, going 4-for-5 with three doubles and three RBI. Renegar finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI.

Cougars reliever Zach Sawyers pitched the final three innings, retiring all nine batters he faced and finishing with four strikeouts.

Feldmann and Smith had two hits apiece in the nightcap, helping the Eagles outhit the Cougars 8-6.

“That just shows that we have the potential to be a good team ourselves,” Shelton said, “because they are an outstanding team. They hit the ball as hard as anybody we’ve played all season.”

GW is now 5-2 overall and 0-1 in the Western Valley District. The Eagles will host William Fleming on Friday.