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After 30 games, Gators sit at .500; three weeks remain
Last Thursday evening, baseball fans witnessed the sort of moment that every eight-year-old Little Leaguer fantasizes about, a moment that can lead to greatness or great disappointment.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Fauquier Gators’ second baseman Rick Pacione stepped up with two outs and three men on base. The atmosphere in the Fauquier High stands, which had edged on disgusted for a greater part of the night, intensified as the Rockbridge Rapids’ Alan Watts sent two consecutive strikes, then a ball sailing over home plate.
One pitch later, hope seemed to glimmer, but then was lost as the crack of Pacione’s bat sent the ball whizzing right to Watts, whose waiting glove clasped not only the ball, but a 5-1 triumph.
Almost five weeks ago Ryan Gauck, a standout swinger for Fauquier who specializes in this sort of clutch situation, found himself in a similar predicament against the Winchester Royals, a game which also ended in a loss.
Gauck, whose batting average falls in at .244, produced two doubles against the Rapids.
“My philosophy is ‘hit hard and good things happen.’ Tonight, we played good defense, our pitching was good, but our offense was kind of slow,” said Gauck.
“Their pitcher was definitely able to slow our bats down, and, offensively, our timely hits just weren’t there.”
Fauquier struggled to get men on base, a source of concern throughout the season.
“We didn’t hit the ball well at all," said Gators’ coach Paul Koch. "We had a lot of strikeouts in the beginning of the game and that kind of set the tone. In this league, you have to put a lot of offensive pressure on your opponents and we just didn’t put enough pressure on them tonight.”
Iden Nazario, a Miami native whose parents made the long trek from Florida to Warrenton to be in the stands, pitched for the Rapids. Nazario had six strikeouts over the course of six innings and committed two errors.
One of these errors occurred in the bottom of the fifth, when a rogue pitch allowed Fauquier shortstop Anders Oster to run home, accounting for the only Gators goal of the night.
The aforementioned disgust felt among Gators fans was the result of two questionable calls early in the game.
In the top of the third, with Rockbridge’s Robbie Anston on second, Sam Roberts grounded a ball into left field. As Anston slid home, Gator catcher Chad Pierce received the long throw from left field and darted forward for the tag. Anston was called safe.
“It was a tough play, but I definitely put the tag on him,” said Pierce. “The ump just didn’t have the right angle.”
In the top of the fourth a hard hit from Rapids’ outfielder Robert Froio was bobbled by Oster. The runner from first and the ball arrived at second base at the same time, causing yet more controversy about whether or not second baseman Pacione had made the tag...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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