Baseball: Potomac Falls, behind Tenacious Rogers, Rallies for 6-4 Win at Woodgrove to Take Control of Dulles

By Dan Sousa
Viva Loudoun Editor

Purcellville (April 25, 2012) - Potomac Falls High School senior right-hander Jackson Rogers is a bulldog on the mound and once he sinks his teeth into a lead, don't even think about prying it from him.

Such was the case Tuesday in a Dulles District showdown among the league co-leaders as Potomac Falls (10-1 in district, 13-2 overall) erased deficits of 3-0 and 4-2 at Woodgrove (9-2, 12-3) with two runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to take a 5-4 advantage.

Potomac Falls SR Jackson Rogers finished with 12 strikeouts, no walks in win.

Rogers, Region II Player of the Year last year as well as first team AA all-state, allowed just one Wolverine on base in the final three innings as he finished the game with a flourish, registering seven of his 12 strikeouts including seven straight at one point. Junior Brandon Orbe's solo home run in the top of seventh inning provided the final 6-4 margin as the Panthers won their 11th straight game and took a 1-game lead in the regular-season district race.


"(Rogers has) a bulldog mentality. He wants the ball," said Woodgrove coach Brad Bauder.

Since his sophomore year, when Rogers was the ace on a Panther team that went a school-record 23-4 and finished AA state runner-up, he has always been a pitcher who seems to get stronger as the game progresses. Rogers also doesn't like to lose so his 2-1 loss to Woodgrove at home on March 20 was extra motivation Tuesday.

"He's as competitive of a player as any player I've ever coached," said Joe Terango, the Panthers head coach since the Panther program started in 1998. "He's our go-to guy. He likes it when the light is shining on him and he comes through when it does."

Rogers didn't not walk any hitters Tuesday and gave up seven of his nine hits allowed in the first four innings as Woodgrove came out swinging the bats well. By the fourth inning, even though Woodgrove tacked on a run to take a 4-2 lead, Rogers started locating his pitches better and down the stretch his breaking ball was devastating.

"It was a good high school baseball game, even with the mistakes," said Bauder.

Woodgrove sophomore starter Matt Jeffery allowed just two unearned runs on five hits in his four innings with two strikeouts and no walks but he had to exit after his hard slide home in the bottom of the fourth inning to score the Wolverines fourth run left him shaken up.

In the top of the fifth, Potomac Falls took advantage of three walks and an error to produce a 3-run rally that put them ahead 5-4. Junior Jared Goldberg (3-for-4) singled to load the basses after the inning started with two walks sandwiched around a fielder's choice out. Orbe then walked, allowing senior Tyler Caldwell to trot home, to make it 4-3 Woodgrove.

Senior Tyler Rice then drove a sacrifice fly to right that scored Rogers with the game-tying run. Goldberg scored the go-ahead run after an errant throw down to second as Orbe stole the base. After giving up an infield single to senior Sampson Bass, Woodgrove senior reliever Ben Mergler, the second Wolverine pitcher in the inning, got senior James Page to line out to second to end things but the damage was done.

"There is nothing better than pitching with a lead," said Rogers, who threw 97 pitches in the complete-game win, including 22 strikes in his last 30 offerings.

Woodgrove freshman pitcher Kaleb Bowman looked sharp in the final two innings on the mound with three strikeouts and his only mistake, a 2-1 fastball that Orbe took over the left field fence.

"It was a fastball count and I knew a fastball was coming and I just time it up," said Orbe.

Potomac Falls, a program coming off three straight trips to the AA state tournament, came in fired up, maybe too fired up as the Panthers made some base running blunders early that kept them off the scoreboard.

"We did come in fired up. We really wanted to stick it to them," said Rogers, who will pitch for NCAA Division III Hampden-Sydney next year.

In the Panthers second inning, Page singled with one out and senior Nile Roach followed with a double to the wall in right-center. Michael Fischetti, running for Page, hesitated around third before heading home and was thrown out by a nice relay throw. Wolverine senior catcher Matthew Reed, after applying the tag at home then fired down to third where Roach was tagged out for an unusual ending-inning double play. In the third inning it was Rogers getting picked off first base on a snap throw down to first by Reed after a pitch.

Woodgrove left senior J.J. Sarty (3-for-4) at second base in the first but the Wolverines scored in the second inning as senior Scott Vansteelant led off with a double and then scored on senior J.B. Basinger's RBI ground out.

The Wolverines added two more runs in the third with another lead-off double starting things, this time as No. 9 hitter, junior Trevor Pike (2-for-3) doubled to right. After a fly out, Pike scored on Sarty's single to center. Sarty moved into scoring position when the hit was misplayed in center.

After a towering fly out to center by Reed, Woodgrove went up 3-0 as sophomore Josh Sweet singled to right.

Potomac Falls started the comeback in the fourth inning with Goldberg singling to center and Orbe reaching base on a ground ball to third that wasn't knocked down. Jeffery looked to get out of the inning with a strikeout and fly out to shallow right but Page drove in Goldberg with a hit that dropped into center and when the ball skittered past the center fielder, Orbe raced around to cut Woodgrove's lead to 3-2.

The Wolverines out-hit the Panthers on the evening, 9-8.

"This was a huge win for us and for our confidence as well as for the standings and seedings," said Rogers.

Potomac Falls hosts Briar Woods (4-6, 6-7) on Friday while Woodgrove hosts third-place Loudoun Valley (8-2, 9-4) in a key rivalry game. Potomac Falls and Woodgrove each have five games left in district play.

"It is anyone's league at this point," said Terango.

Potomac Falls 6, Woodgrove 4
PF  000 230 1 - 6 8 2
WG 012 100 0 - 4 9 4

Batteries
PF: Rogers and Page.
WG: Jeffery, Whitfield (5), Mergler (5), Bowman (6) and Reed.


Extra Base Hits
2B - PF: Roach; WG: Vansteelant, Pike
HR - PF: Orbe 

RBIs
PF: Orbe (2), Rice, Page.

WG: Sarty, Sweet, Basinger, Pike.