Martinez, junior team come up short in 9-6 loss

Culpeper junior baseball coach Mark Miller had a few words for his players as they trudged back to the dugout after watching Louisa build a three-run lead in the first inning, “The first is always the toughest but we’ll get back in it.”

He was right, sort of.

Culpeper did suffer through a rather difficult opening inning Saturday but Louisa pitcher Ben Lowery made sure the next few were also pretty daunting as his team survived a late push from Culpeper and left Dave Canavan Park with a 9-6 victory.

“In the first inning of any all-star game, kids are going to be nervous,” Miller said. “They’re going to have jitters and butterflies. But we stayed focused and we still gave them some.”

Lowery pitched a little over five innings, striking out seven while giving up six hits, five walks and three runs.

“Ben is just outstanding,” Louisa coach Joe Norris said. “He gets very good movement on his ball and has a great breaking ball. When he’s on, he’s very tough.”

Louisa’s top starter also proved clutch, freezing Culpeper’s Dalton Bodo to end the third inning with a strikeout and stranding base runners on second and third. Stranded runners would be a pretty common theme for Culpeper.

“We left a lot out there,” Miller said. “We left too many runs out on the bases. It’s demoralizing when you’re leaving eight or nine runners on base.”

Culpeper left at least eight runners stranded, two of whom came in the bottom of the sixth when a strikeout ended the inning with the tying run at the plate.

“That’s going to happen with a young team,” Miller said. “But our pitching was strong and we’re looking forward to coming back out here Monday.”

Pitching was a bright spot for Culpeper. Starter Bishop Wormley struggled with walks — giving up seven — but only gave up three hits and three runs while striking out three batters.

Nemo Martinez replaced Wormley with two outs in the fourth and kept Louisa’s offense at bay, giving up three hits and three runs with four strikeouts, including two in a row to end the seventh inning and keep his team within striking distance.

Martinez also showed off his defensive side, catching a Louisa base runner taking too large of a lead on second base in the top of the sixth, and went 3-for-4 with three singles from inside the batter’s box.

“A guy like Nemo brings leadership and a lot of ability,” Miller said. “He’s going to be a star. The kids rally around him and he means a lot to the team.”

Culpeper found itself in a 6-0 hole heading into the bottom of the fourth, but that’s when it found some offense.

Ryan Powell came off the bench and bounced a two-RBI double up the middle to plate Wormley and Dylan Glenny and cut Louisa’s lead to four.

Louisa responded with a three-run fifth thanks to a sacrifice grounder from Dale Comber and a two-RBI single from leadoff hitter Garrett Feagans, but Culpeper just kept coming back.

“Our pitcher got control and kept us in it,” Miller said of Martinez. “We played some great defense and played pretty solid late in the game. Any time you give us outs, we’re going to take them.”

Bodo bounced an RBI-single up the middle in the bottom of the fifth to begin the rally and Kyle Schubert picked up where he left off with a two-RBI single to shallow left that cut Louisa’s lead to four once again.

Wormley brought Culpeper a little closer to an opening-round win with a high fly ball that dropped just inside the third-base line in left field and scored two more runs. But that was as close as Culpeper would get.

“These boys are really talented,” Norris said. “They hit the ball well and when the ball is put in motion they play great defense.”

Coleman Harris replaced Lowery in the fifth and went the rest of the way for Louisa, giving up four hits and three runs while striking out two.

Kevin Kronander led Louisa at the plate going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, while Harris went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Feagans finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs and Comber racked up an RBI as well.

Powell and Schubert both went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Culpeper, while Bodo finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and Wormley went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

Louisa moves on to face East Orange in Orange today and Culpeper will face the loser of that game on Monday.