Evan Beal Slams Door on McLean Rally

McLean (14-8) outplayed South County on Saturday afternoon.

Too bad the game started on Friday night.

The Stallions (23-0) lashed two homers and scored four runs off Highlanders starting pitcher Josh Sborz on Friday, and that was enough to win 4-2 and earn a berth in the Class AAA Northern Region quarterfinals on Monday against Westfield at Lake Braddock.

After the Stallions’ offensive explosion in the bottom of the first on Friday, lightning and rain put a halt to the game. Ninety minutes later, umpires suspended action until Saturday afternoon.

The Stallions couldn’t solve McLean’s junior lefty Brock Hunter, who was on the mound when the game resumed Saturday, setting up a dramatic bases-loaded situation in the top of the seventh.

South County starter Tyler Frazier, who threw his first pitch of the game around 7 p.m. on Friday and his 20th just after 1 p.m. on Saturday, was cruising until then, allowing just one run on a solo homer by James Oldenburg in the top of the sixth. He had matched his career high in strikeouts with 11 and allowed just four hits in six innings. But he ran into trouble when Chase Mills led off the seventh with a double and scored when Brian Ristig followed with a double. Jack Boland walked and Philip Morse’s sacrifice bunt came to a rest on the third base line for an infield hit. The score was 4-2 and the bases were loaded with no outs.

Frazier came off the mound in favor of Evan Beal, who is expected to start for the Stallions in Monday’s game.

Beal induced a line-out to third by outfielder Bruce Beatty on a 3-1 pitch and then struck out Oldenburg and Sborz (after falling behind 2-0) to end the game.

Luke Bondurant, whose 3-run homer in the bottom of the first turned out to be all South County needed, let out a warrior cry when Sborz waved at Beal’s sharp breaking ball. Beal pumped his fist and stared at the chattering McLean dugout after the final strike.

The Stallions’ season was on the line and their senior star pitcher had saved the day.

“[Sborz] had a big open stance, and he’s a good hitter,” Beal said after getting his second save of the year. “So I went with two hard sliders that just cut right away from his bat, he couldn’t do anything with them, and then I just broke him off a big old curveball and that’s all she wrote.”

Beal said he’s just as comfortable coming into a late-inning situation as he is starting the game with a clean slate.

“I’ve got some good intensity coming out of the pen,” he said. “I’m going to go out and fling it like I can and trust the defense to make a play.”

The Stallions had chances to put the game out of reach in the middle innings. They left eight runners on base and were victimized by a pair of baserunning mistakes in the second and fifth innings. McLean catcher Hardy Cox also stifled a rally when he threw out speedy Drew Rector on a steal attempt with one out in the second. South County had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth when Hunter got Cameron Thompson to line out to first and struck out Blake Thompson to end the inning with the bases loaded.

“We hit six balls right on the nose and didn’t have anything to show for ‘em,” said South County coach Mark Luther. “We had opportunities, but they made plays today.  They did a nice job keeping themselves in the game.”

On Friday night, McLean coach John Thomas told Hunter he would be on the mound when the game re-started on Saturday.

“It was the best thing that could have happened to us. We had zero momentum,” said Thomas of the overnight break. “Obviously Josh is a phenomenal pitcher, but the thing we found was that he was throwing the ball 91 miles an hour and they weren’t fooled. He threw 28 pitches and based on what we saw, we thought it would be better to go with a little finesse from the left side.”

 The move paid off for Thomas and the Highlanders, but they couldn’t generate enough offense against Frazier, who recorded strikeouts in all six innings in which he got an out and allowed just five baserunners before the rocky seventh.

Luther said he would have liked to see the Stallions put up some runs Saturday, but facing Hunter may prove to be helpful ahead of Monday’s 1 p.m.match-up with Westfield. The Bulldogs (16-6), who beat Washington-Lee 14-4 on Friday, are expected to start lefty Aaron Hoover.