This article was contributed by guest writer and FCHS School Psychologist Travis Bailey. He is the Head JV Baseball Coach, along with Assistant Coach Tyler Lynch.
On a wonderfully warm afternoon, your Flucos hosted the Charlottesville Black Knights in the first part of a doubleheader. Charlie Critzer got the call and came out firing strikes and retired the first hitter on three straight pitches. After a walk, the next two Charlottesville hitters tested the fielding skills of Luis Vazquez in left field and found him equal to the task as he pulled down both fly balls hit his way.
In the bottom of the inning, the Fluvanna hitters looked equal parts patient, drawing walks and sharp-making, solid contact. Juju Lewis led off with a line drive through the right side of the infield. He quickly stole second base, followed by a Brady Lounsbury walk on five pitches. A few pitches later, your Flucos completed a double steal and a balk call plated the first Fluco run of the inning. Charlie drew a walk of his own. An out later, Grayson Peterson is grazed by a pitch that brushes his jersey, and the bases are loaded. Josh Aldridge drives in a second run on a fielder’s choice force out at second. With two out in the inning, the wheels come off for the Black Knights. Fluvanna scored an additional 4 runs by putting the ball in play and letting Cville make error after error. Charlottesville replaced their starting pitcher during this barrage, and when the dust settled, we moved onto the second inning with a 6-run lead.
In the second inning, the Knights fought back with a few hits of their own. With one run in and a runner on second, Brady wrangled a pitch that rolled a few feet out of reach. The runner broke for third, not knowing just how good the Fluvanna catcher is, and found out as he jogged back to the dugout for the second out of the inning. Sorry, not sorry. Stealers beware, Brady has a cannon. The last out was recorded on a shot that was snagged by Tyler Custer at third base. The Flucos tack on 2 more runs in their half of the inning. A mammoth double over the center fielder scored one, and a Josh Aldridge groundout plated the second. 8-1 going into the third.
Charlie got ahead of the first batter he faced with two quick strikes and then planted a fastball into his back. The next batter grounded out to Austin Martin at second, and then another walk put runners in 1st and 2nd. The next batter tapped the ball back to Charlie, and he got the out at first, but those greedy Black Knights tried to sneak their lead runner home, only to be thrown out by a timely toss to Brady by Josh Aldridge. In the bottom of the third, sloppy baserunning on the Flucos’ part squandered a few scoring chances, and on the 4th, we went.
Critzer, backed by good defense, retires three in a row after a lead-off walk. The bottom of the 4th gets off to a rough start and looks like it might fly by in a blink when the first two Flucos go down on strikes. But, with two down, baseball magnet Grayson gets grazed by a pitch for the second time this game. A few pitches later, Josh times up a fastball and delivers a towering blast to right for a run-scoring triple. I would describe his celebration for the fans and his teammates at third, but hey, you need to come to the games to get that special detail. He came in to score on a wild pitch, raising the lead to 9 runs.
Charlie runs into a spot of trouble in the 5th when he hits a batter and gives up back-to-back hits, scoring the Knights’ 2nd and 3rd runs. His defense gives him a little boost with a timely double play, but after 4 and 2/3 innings, it’s time for Tyler Custer to take the mound and relieve a gutsy performance by Charlie. This call to the pen shuffles the deck defensively, and Josh moves from first to left field and quickly shows his versatility when he gets a good break on a dying liner and slides in to rob a Cville hitter of a single in left, putting the Black Knights rally to bed and retiring the side.
Fluvanna put a few more runs on the board thanks to singles from Holden Borrelli, Charlie, and Custer, but fell one run short of ending the game via the mercy rule. So Fluvanna took a 12-3 lead into the 6th and final inning. Fluvanna backed Custer on the mound, and the Knights went down 1-2-3 for their part of the 6th. A Holden walk followed by back-to-back singles from Juju and Brady ended the game after the 13th run crossed the plate. A wonderful performance overall with only a few hiccups worth addressing in tomorrow’s practice from your fighting Flucos.
You can watch this video to see the highlights of Fluvanna’s win over Orange County High School at home on April 14, where they won 8-5 just two days before their win against Cville.
