Baseball: Stone Bridge Blastgs Woodson, 11-3, to Advance to Northern Region Quarterfinals

By Steve Johnston
Special to VivaLoudoun

(May 30, 20110 - In a game that had several intriguing storylines, the Stone Bridge Bulldogs defeated W.T. Woodson 11-3 Friday afternoon in a first round game of the Northern Region playoffs. The Bulldogs pounded out 13 hits including four home runs and received heroic pitching performances from seniors Stephen Putnick and Mac West.

With the game only a few minutes old, Woodson cleanup hitter David Rozner lined a shot right back at Putnick. The ball hit Putnick's glove and rolled a short distance away allowing Rozner to leg out an infield hit scoring Brant Thomas for the first run of the game.

A lengthy delay ensued as Coach Sam Plank assessed Putnick's injury. It was later discovered that Putnick had a broken finger and shattered fingernail, which was quite evident as the game resumed with him still on the mound.

Unable to catch even a soft throw with his glove, Putnick received the return throws from catcher J.J. White with his throwing hand. Putnick went on to finish the inning and pitch a perfect second inning. He pitched into the third until, with two outs, a 30 minute lightning delay ensued.

When play resumed, Plank called on West to relieve Putnick. West turned in his best outing of the season going 4 1/3 innings allowing just four hits and striking out 8 Woodson hitters. Neither Putnick nor West walked a batter.

The Bulldog hitters entered the game knowing they had their work cutout for them as they would be facing Patriot District Pitcher of the Year, Bryson Hough. The Bulldogs sent a message early that they were not intimidated and would be up for the challenge.

Four first inning singles by Josh Kuzbel (3-4, 3R, SB), J. J. White (2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 Runs), Tyler Lighton (2-4, 2B, 2 Runs, 2 RBI), and Sid Harvey (2-3, HR, 3 RBI) plated three runs to give the Bulldogs an early 3-1 lead.

The score stayed that way until the bottom of the third when senior Ryan Johnston (1-3, HR, 2 RBI)scored Kuzbel with a 2-run homer to left field, his fourth of the season.

Woodson answered with two unearned runs in the top of the fourth, but Stone Bridge answered with four of their own in the bottom of the fifth, knocking Hough from the game.

Leading off the inning, Spencer Rositano lifted a long opposite field home run, his first of the season. A double by Lighton scored Kuzbel, who previously doubled, and Lighton would score on Harvey's second home run of the season.

Not to be outdone, White would cap the scoring in the home half of the sixth with his own two-run shot. It was White's fifth homer of the season.

This game was also marked by a couple of sterling defensive plays that helped keep the Woodson offense at bay. When Woodson's Joe Coogan launched a drive to left-center leading off the sixth inning, it appeared to have extra bases written all over it. But that was before centerfielder Alex Wynn arrived out of nowhere to make a diving highlight reel catch.

Later in the inning, first baseman Connor Donovan would end the inning with a great stop of Ryan Fitzgerald's sharp one-hopper.

With the win, Stone Bridge advances and will play Robinson high school on Monday, May 30th at Woodson at 1 PM.