PREP BASEBALL: Riverheads shocks Strasburg

STRASBURG — The nature of playing small ball is to put pressure on the other team. A winning baseball club with a spotty defense most of the season, Strasburg’s shortcomings in the field came to the surface again in Wednesday night’s Region B quarterfinals game with Riverheads.

The Gladiators’ first three batters of the fifth inning reached on an infield hit and a pair of misplayed bunts. Winning pitcher Cody Montgomery followed with a bases-clearing hit to the wall in right-center and a five-run fifth was enough for Riverheads in its 6-1 win at First Bank Park.

The Rams had all four of their errors in the fifth, and inning losing pitcher Justin Rush allowed just one earned run.

“When you get in a game like this and your defense lets you down, you’re probably not going to win it,” Strasburg coach Jeff Smoot said. “We had some routine plays and we didn’t make them. They, for the most part, did and that’s kind of what you’re left with.”

Riverheads had pushed across a third-inning run and was looking to find a way to solve Rush, who had allowed just three hits and struck out six through four innings.

With the score tied at 1-1, the Gladiators got a rally rolling in the fifth and had the bottom of their order to thank for it. Kyle Armstrong led off with a grounder deep in the hole on the left side for a hit and Nick Wolcott followed by pushing a bunt up the first-base line. Riley McDonald bobbled for an error, and misfortune continued for the Rams when Rush could not field Jacob Painter’s bunt cleanly.

Back to the top of the lineup, Montgomery blasted a second-pitch fly to deep right-center that sailed just out of Yoshi Suzuki’s reach. Two runs scored on Montgomery’s double and a third crossed safely when the relay was knocked out of catcher Derek Buckley’s glove by Painter.

Having ended up on third, Montgomery scored one batter later by sliding under Buckley’s tag on the throw home from Miles Wade’s grounder to first. The Gladiators (15-6) made it 6-1 on Lance Diehl’s RBI ground single to left.

“We were fortunate,” Riverheads coach Rodney Painter said. “I mean, [Strasburg’s] a great team. They don’t make many errors. [Rush] was pitching a great game. We felt we needed to get Cody [Montgomery] some runs.”

While Rush (six innings, two earned runs, eight strikeouts) certainly held his own, Montgomery (7-3) got out of plenty of tight spots to earn the win.

In the second, the Rams (18-4) loaded the bases with two walks and a bunt single from Rush. Montgomery gave up an RBI fielders choice to Sheldon Stickley before getting out of the inning when Alex Pfeiffer bounced into a double play.

Then when Strasburg came to bat in its half of the fifth, danger loomed again for Montgomery. Stickley was hit by a pitch, Pfeiffer bounced a single to left, and Suzuki bunted up the third-base side and beat his tap out for a hit.

Bases-loaded, no outs, no problem. Montgomery fanned Zach Cover on a 3-2 pitch before McDonald hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

“Cody kept his composure and pitched well all night,” Painter said. “He’s pitched well all season. He was spotting his fastball and he was able to get his curve ball over for strikes. He was able to mix it up.”

As the game went longer, Montgomery did not lose any zip on his fastball or break on his off-speed pitches. By getting ahead in counts, Montgomery kept his five-run lead safe.

“They had big, long swings,” Montgomery said of Strasburg’s batters. “I was trying to keep them off-balance and not let them hit solid fastballs.”

Heading in, Smoot figured the Rams might be limited against the talented right-hander. Less than two hours after the first-pitch, Montgomery made it a reality and ended Strasburg’s season.

“Montgomery was outstanding,” Smoot said. “We didn’t put a whole lot of runs on the board, and a lot of that had to do with him. Dealing like he was tonight, it’s hard to put runs on the board.”

In going the distance, Montgomery allowed six hits, one earned run, two walks, hit one batter, and struck out nine. He also threw 74 of 113 pitches for strikes and helped his cause well by driving in three runs.

There will be no rest for the Gladiators, who travel to Chatham tonight for a semifinals matchup with the hard-hitting Cavaliers. Chatham bounced Randolph-Henry 14-3 on Monday.

“We’ve worked hard all year for this and once we got [to Strasburg], we didn’t come to lose,” Montgomery said. “We played our best baseball today.”