PREP BASEBALL: Lee rally sinks Cougars

STAUNTON — After striking out three times on seven pitches, Robert E. Lee’s Taylor Davis found himself back at the plate in the bottom of the sixth against Stuarts Draft with the score tied at five.

Moments after Joseph Wood knotted the score with a two-run double, Davis swung at the 2-0 pitch, finding a hole and driving in two runs. Lee’s 7-5 lead held up in the top of the seventh, giving the young Leemen a much needed Southern Valley District win and a season sweep over the Cougars.

“I would have taken a passed ball,” Davis said after the game.

All the pressure to secure the final Southern Valley District tournament berth now lies on Rockbridge. Draft finished its district schedule with a 3-5 record and Lee improved to 3-4 with only Rockbridge left to play. The Wildcats have one win in the district, but will play three games next week, including a doubleheader against Waynesboro on Monday. If Rockbridge wins all of its games, Stuarts Draft will be eliminated from the postseason via the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Leemen.

This year the rivalry between the Cougars and Leemen has reached new heights, and the emotion showed on the field on Friday.

“We just don’t like each other,” Davis said. “Most of them play football and I play football and that just carries over. We can’t stand it, we were close to throwing punches, but we did the best thing and won the ball game.”

Umpires had to keep both teams on a short leash, twice having to call a break in the action to keep emotions from spilling onto the field. R.E. Lee coach Bobby Humphrey said that he was proud of how his team handled itself during the heated ballgame.

“These guys showed a lot of fire for the first time since I’ve been here,” he said. “That’s why I had few problems with what took place. They were handled by the people on the field playing. Some others may have kept it going, but on the field they took care of it.”

Stuarts Draft coach Josh Podgorski had no comment about the game.

The Cougars took an early lead in the first inning when David Gualdin scored on a Ricky Dimitt single.

After striking out five in the first two innings while allowing one hit, Draft’s Jeremy Fitzgerald got into a bind in the third, loading the bases with two walks and a bunt single with no outs on the board. Fitzgerald sat the next three Leemen down looking.

“That was crucial,” Humphry said. “To be honest, I have to give props to my guys because they stayed in it. They could have gone under right there, but they didn’t.”

Draft added another run in the third after John Nye reached first on a single and advanced on a throwing error. Clinton McCartney put Nye on third with a single and a Gualdin plated him.

Lee tied the game in the fourth when Terrell Mickens hit a two-RBI double, bringing home Chandler Roberts and Travis Smiley.

The Cougars took a 3-2 lead in the next inning with Gualdin scoring on a Cole Beyeler single.

The Leemen went three-up, three-down to end the inning and Draft scored two more runs on a Gualdin home run for a 5-2 lead. Then the bottom fell out for Draft.

After T.J. Johnson was struck out by Draft reliever Tyler Brydge to start the sixth, Zach Bowls, Smiley and Roberts loaded the bases. Mickens walked to score a run and Wood hit an RBI double to knot the game at five.

Davis then scored the eventual game-winner with a two-RBI shot.

“It seems like when Joe hits, I hit. We got a great thing going,” Davis said. “I stepped into the box and had my head down. I was 0-for-3 with three Ks and, quite frankly, I don’t think I could do worse. And [Humphrey] said, ‘drive the baseball.’ ”