On the heels of a thrilling 10-9 victory over Woodson, the varsity baseball team traveled to Simpson Field to take on the T.C. Williams Titans. The Atoms came out strong, using seven first-inning runs to propel the team to an 11-4 victory.
“[The quick start] gave us a ton of confidence and momentum in the game,” said assistant coach Christopher Bagot.
The scoring began with a grand slam home run by junior first baseman Jordan Cowles. Two batters later, sophomore Tyler Schwartz hit a home run of his own, making the score 6-0. With two outs, sophomore Patrick McCann continued the momentum, blasting a solo homerun off the scoreboard in left field. The homerun was the first of McCann’s career and gave the Atoms even more elbow room with the score 7-0.
“It was a great feeling to hit my first home run, but it was almost bittersweet because I didn’t know if it was a home run at first because of the bounce off the scoreboard,” said McCann. “So it was kind of an awkward trot around the bases, but it was nice having a big cushion going into the field because I think it made our pitcher, [junior] Eric Reynolds, more comfortable knowing he just had to throw strikes.”
Reynolds did just that, throwing two scoreless innings before surrendering two runs in the bottom of the third inning, making the score 8-2. Junior Jake Barnes had driven in junior Greg Nielsen in the top of the inning to make it 8-0.
“I thought I pitched well,” said Reynolds. “I threw a lot of strikes and all my pitches were working well.”
Junior Evan Smith led off the top of the fourth inning with a home run and Cowles followed right after with his second home run of the day. With the back-to-back home runs, the team now led 10-2 and now it was a question as to whether or not the Atoms would slaughter rule (up by 10 or more runs through four innings) the Titans. This did not happen, but Smith tacked on another run in the fifth on an RBI double to make the score 11-3. Senior Kevin Fields relieved Reynolds and pitched the final four innings of the Atoms 11-4 victory.
“We obviously did very well,” said Bagot. “It was a incredible watching the ball fly out of the park like that. It might’ve been an Annandale record for homeruns [in a game].”
With the Patriot District tournament in the near future, the team hopes its success in the last two games will continue on to the tournament.
“Hopefully our recent success brings more success,” said Bagot. “We’re finally playing how we should have been playing all season.”
“Districts will be a great experience because we can finally reach our goal of winning a district championship,” said Barnes.
