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Trailing all night in season opener, Falcons rally past Sherando, 9-8, in extra innings
Paul Koch may have been on the edge of his seat, but that seat was not in Fauquier High’s dugout.The Fauquier coach was barred from Steve Athey Memorial Ballpark during the season opener Friday, when his Falcons won a suspenseful, extra-inning game, 9-8, over the Sherando Warriors.
Koch spent the nine innings serving a one-game suspension carried over from last season, when he was ejected for arguing a call during the Falcons final game, a 2-0 loss to Battlefield in the Cedar Run District quarterfinals.
But Koch appeared after Friday’s win over Sherando (1-1) to congratulate his one-night replacement, assistant coach Duncan Cockerille, and the Falcons (1-0).
“This is my team, man,” Koch said. “I didn’t want to leave in the first place, but since I had to be gone, I wanted to [come] right back. I only live a few minutes away.”
Koch said he received updates by cell phone throughout Friday’s game from people in attendance, so he likely used a bunch of mobile minutes.
Fauquier rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to tie the game at 4-4 by the end of the sixth inning and finally took its only lead in the bottom of the ninth, when Zach Dingus singled home the winning run.
With runners on second and third, and Seth Taylor having just scored the tying run on a Hunter Pearson double, Dingus hit a slow-roller to Blake Adams. The Sherando second baseman threw home and Sherando catcher Chris Deck blocked the plate well, but Noah Joseph slid in safe.
“I was just trying to get the ball in play, trying to get something to happen,” Dingus said. “This was one of the most memorable games I’ve played.”
Fauquier’s No. 8 hitter, Dingus finished 4-for-5 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs. All of last season, he tallied four hits in 16 at bats.
“If he keeps swinging the bat he’ll have the opportunity to move up in the lineup,” said Cockerille.
Dingus’ first hit, the triple, came in the fifth inning, which by no coincidence was the first inning in which Fauquier scored.
In the first inning, two Fauquier errors and three Sherando hits staked the Falcons to a 2-0 deficit. The Warriors then took a 4-0 lead in the second, scoring two runs thanks to two more FHS errors, three stolen bases and a Tre Porter double off the left field wall.
“I don’t know if it was nerves or just pressing too much, but we got those first four [errors] out of the way, settled in and played great baseball the rest of the way,” Cockerille said.
Fauquier committed only one error over the final seven innings, which relieved some pressure on its pitchers. After being tagged with three unearned runs, Fauquier starting pitcher Nick McMahon pitched a scoreless third inning before giving way to Lee Cranford. The left-handed reliever allowed only one run on three hits while striking out three over 3 1/3 innings...
See the Wednesday print edition of the Fauquier Times-Democrat for the complete story.
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