Boys having a ball

By Brittany Stempien
Review Sports Correspondent

Published: May 8, 2008

The Orange County varsity Hornets raised their season record to 11-6, and their district record to 6-3, with a 5-0 win against William Monroe Friday night.
Derek Justice pitched a complete game shut-out for the Hornets, striking out eleven Dragons.
Pitcher Jeremy Breeden took the loss for William Monroe.
Orange jumped out quickly to a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the first, a walk put Evan Price on base, and a ground ball and a sacrifice fly drove him in for the first run of the game.
Things were looking hopeless for the Dragons for the following several innings, courtesy of Justice’s dominant pitching.
Justice didn’t allow William Monroe to dig up even one single hit until their sixth inning. But even then, however, they couldn’t come up with anything promising.
The Hornets came to bat in the bottom half of the fifth with a chance to win and put a few more runs on the board.
Nelson Vargas came out swinging and shot a base hit past the third baseman. He advanced to second on Nick Bledsoe’s sacrifice bunt. He later scored on an error to give Orange a 2-0 lead.
Price, on first, stole second and then scored on Colsten Bayless’s base hit to right field, which practically put the game away for Orange.
“We’re starting to play consistently,” Orange coach Jesse Lohr said, “and we have a great chance of reaching some of our goals this year!”
Last Wednesday night, Orange took on Charlottesville away.
Orange got the victory with the score of 12-3, and D.J. Brown was the winning pitcher.
It was an all-around good night for Nelson Vargas as well, offensively and defensively.
Orange coach Jesse Lohr said he is “proud of his team’s increasing consistency.”
On senior night Tuesday, the Hornets scored 10 runs in the second inning to blow out Charlottesville 18-1.
Evan Price limited the Black Knights to just four hits and hit a grand slam to help the Hornets improve to 12-6, 7-3.
The Hornets will travel to Louisa Friday and Western Albemarle Tuesday to close out regular season play.