Opening day

After spending the school year in opposing dugouts, the Cyclones and Blue Devils found themselves in a familiar spot Saturday afternoon.

“I’ve been playing with these guys for a long time,” said Brian Thompson, a rising senior at CCHS. “We’ve played together on school teams and with the Sting, so it’s not that much different than normal.”

Players from Culpeper and Eastern View joined forces with a Courtland Cougar for the American Legion Post 330 baseball team’s season opener but struggles from the pitching mound and some untimely errors sent the Knights from Post 181 in Leesburg home with an 11-8 victory.

“We hit the ball and our defense was solid,” Post 181 manager James Grenier said. “We haven’t had much practice but when they hit the ball we stayed with it and got a couple nice outs because of that.”

Despite playing without seven veterans — most of whom were out of town celebrating graduation — Post 330 survived a big fourth inning from the Knights and racked up 11 hits as a team, but committing six errors and giving up a combined 13 free bases proved costly.

“We had a bit of a skeleton crew today but these guys stepped up and played with a very good ball club,” Post 330 manager Jeff Crane said. “But we did give them five or six unearned runs and that hurt.”

Matt Ward — a rising senior at EVHS — got the start and walked four batters, hit two others and struck out three in three innings of work.

Matt’s younger brother Geoff replaced him in the top of the fourth and gave up four walks, hit a batter, allowed three hits and struck out three before CCHS graduate Joey Powell took his place in the eighth and went the final two innings, giving up two hits, walking two and striking out two.

“You don’t want to give up free bases,” Crane said. “Our offense tried to make up the difference with hits but we came up a little short. It’s been several weeks since these guys have pitched in a live game, but those hit batters and walks are never good.”

Leesburg struck first blood, scoring two runs in the top of the third, but Post 330 responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning.

Josh Gardiner — a rising junior at EVHS — got things started with a triple to deep left-center field. The speedy second baseman then scored thanks to a blooper to shallow right field by Courtland’s Matt Lenox.

A few batters later, Powell laid down a textbook bunt to load the bases for Thompson who tied the game with a sacrifice fly that scored Lenox. CCHS senior Brian Valdez then gave Post 330 the lead with an RBI single.

“A lot of young guys stepped up and tried to get the job done today,” Crane said. “It was a good ballgame. Unfortunately we came up on the short end but make no mistake, we’re going to win this year.”

The Knights weren’t deterred by Post 330’s one-run lead, though. They responded with a five-run fourth inning that threatened to put the game out of reach.

Lead-off hitter Daniel Savage put Post 181 back on top with a two-RBI double. Matt Ward then walked one batter to load the bases and a second to give up another run before allowing a third runner to score thanks to a wild pitch.

Post 181’s Aaron Sweger added the final run of the inning with a sacrifice fly that gave the Knights a 7-3 lead.

“That’s what we needed momentum wise,” Grenier said. “We paid attention on the base paths, got a little hit here and there and took what we were given.”

Post 330 wasn’t ready to roll over and quit just yet, though. Lee Rossi brought a run across the plate with a triple in the bottom of the fourth and Lenox racked up his second RBI with a sacrifice grounder in the same inning.

Trevor Mack — a rising senior at EVHS — cut Post 181’s lead to one with an RBI double in the fifth before Lenox plated Gardiner in the sixth to tie the game 7-7.

“We’re going to hit the ball this year,” Crane said. “We have 18 guys on the roster and all of them can hit, so we know we’re going to get plenty of opportunities on the bases.”

But pitching woes came back to bite Culpeper again in the bottom of the seventh. After Post 181 relief pitcher Ryan Cummings loaded the bases with a bunt, Geoff Ward walked in a run and hit a batter to give Leesburg a 9-7 lead.

The Knights added two more runs thanks to a double from Brian Wheaton in the eighth to seal the win.

Savage and Sweger each went 2-for-5 with two RBIs to lead Post 181 from the plate, while Wheaton finished 1-for-5 with two RBIs, Tommy Meier went 1-for-5 with an RBI and Trey Reed added an RBI as well.

Lenox led the way for Culpeper going 2-for-5 with three RBIs, while Mack finished 2-for-5 with an RBI, Valdez and Rossi each went 1-for-5 with an RBI and Thompson added an RBI of his own.

“This one’s over,” Crane said. “We’re going to put it in the history books and come out fighting the next time we step on the field.”

Post 330 won’t have to wait very long for its shot at redemption because Stafford’s Post 290 will be in town today for a 2 p.m. showdown.