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 |
Senators Suffer First Loss of Season |
June 19, 2008 -- Fairfax, VA. At some point, you had to figure the Vienna Senators would lose a game. They couldn't really go through the entire Clark-Griffith League schedule undefeated, could they? Could their starting rotation really keep opponents to less than four runs a game for the entire season? Could their lineup keep producing double-digit run totals at least once a week? Could the Senators have two players continue to hit well above .400? The answer came Thursday night, as the Senators ran into a perfect storm of sorts, and dropped their first game of the season 7-5 to the Fairfax Nationals.
The Senators combined an uncharacteristically poor pitching performance with a listless offensive and defensive performance to fall to 14-1 on the season. Starter Jordan Durrance only lasted three innings, while throwing 69 pitches and giving up two runs. The team made six errors in the field, including three by second baseman Wes Joy (although in fairness the field at Paul VI High School produced some strange hops last night). The team managed to put together some hits, but lacked the timely hitting that has been so crucial in their early-season dominance. The Senators left ten runners on base.
“All around we were pretty slow coming out onto the field, and we didn't take great ABs at the plate,” said third baseman Nick Kuroczko. “We hit a few balls pretty well into the gap, but they got caught. That's just how it goes sometimes.”
The Nationals had already played the Senators closer than any other team in the CGL. They only lost by two runs the last time the teams met, and they scored four runs on the Senators the time before that. Those four runs were the most that the Senators had allowed in a game before last night's game.
Both starters battled control issues and labored through innings. While Durrance threw 69 pitches threw three innings, Nationals starter Ryan Hairston threw an astounding 131 pitches in his six innings of work. Hairston also issued six walks. There was a steady, spitting rain throughout the first three innings, which could have contributed to the pitchers' wildness.
The game was a back and forth affair and remained close throughout. The Senators opened the scoring in the top of the second when Wes Joy scored on an error by Hairston. The Nationals answered right back in the bottom half with an RBI single from Rob Lamas. The Nationals then took the lead in the third, before the Senators took it right back with two runs in the fourth. Blake Tagmyer and Kuroczko scored, after both reached on bunt singles.
The Nationals regained the lead for good in the fourth with two runs off of Senators reliever Will Krasne, who took the loss. Krasne continued the theme of wild pitchers, hitting three Nationals batters and throwing a wild pitch in his inning and a third of work. Chad Johnson came on in relief of Krasne, and recorded the game's first 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth. However, he gave up a mammoth home run to Lamas in the next inning. The home run was a shot over the short left field porch (302 feet down the line) that came within a few feet of hitting Paul VI High School on the fly.
The Senators got within a run with two runs in the bottom of the eighth off of Nationals pitcher Eric Broberg, who was making his season debut. Tagmyer crushed a Broberg pitch to the gap in right-center for a triple, scoring Gunnar Terhune. The ball may have left the park in other CGL parks, but not at the spacious Nellis Stadium, which is 430 feet to dead center. Tagmyer came around to score on a Matt Goulas sacrifice fly.
However, the Nationals answered with a run off of Ryan Schwenke in the bottom half of the inning, before Broberg recorded the second 1-2-3 inning in the top of the ninth, securing the win. Broberg was credited with his first save of the season, and Hairston took the victory. The result improved the Nationals record to 5-4 on the season.
The Senators are back home at Waters Field Friday night against the Beltway Blue Caps. First pitch is set for 7:00 PM.
“Going as far as you can with a perfect season is a great feeling, and you never want to give that up. It ended tonight after fourteen games, but I think it's still looking good later on [in the season],” said Kuroczko.
Andrew Struckmeyer
Vienna Senators