Atlee rallies for comeback baseball win over Deep Run

It was a glorious night for baseball.

If you’re the Atlee Raiders and their faithful, ever enthusiastic supporters, that is.

For the guys from Deep Run, though, there was nothing glorious about surrendering seven runs in the top of the sixth inning after leading 6-1 after two and 6-3 after five.

Playing on the road, Coach Michael Morris’s crew ultimately prevailed 10-7 in a game that began at 6 p.m. on the Wildcats’ hot, sun-drenched, well coifed diamond under a bright cerulean sky and ended two hours and forty-five minutes later as a cool, gentle breeze wafted across their Glen Allen campus.

“The scouting report shows that Deep Run, though their record (4-6) doesn’t show it, can hit,” said Morris, whose team improved to 6-1. “They got some hits early. Some were barrels, some were Texas Leaguers, but they were still hits, and they got guys on base.

“Good for us was that it was early in the game instead of late. I’m very confident in our kids, our mentality, and the chaos we like to present on base by putting pressure on the defenses. 

“The boys believe in each other, and they talk about how we are as a unit and how it takes every link in the chain to pull strong.”

In the top of the first, Atlee’s Max Baedke, who singled, scored on Tyler Rutman’s shot to centerfield.

The Wildcats answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning when Luke Frei stroked a sharp single to center field to score Connor Papas and John Koontz.

The home team pushed across four more runs in the second. With the bases loaded, Koontz’s single scored Griffin Willis, and Aiden Bradshaw’s sacrifice fly to center sent Jacob Saunders home.

Frei’s infield single then scored Papas, and Bryson Jones followed with a pop single to short center field to score Koontz.

The Raiders were down big but hardly out.

“Dugout energy is a big thing that we preach about,” said Chase Blumberg, a senior righthander who delivered 3.2 innings of solid middle-inning relief pitching (seven strikeouts, two hits, no walks, no runs) to the visitors’ cause.

“And keeping everybody engaged. When you hear people cheering for you and getting excited for you, that keeps you focused and gets you in the right headspace to perform your best.”

The Raiders added a run in the third and another in the fourth.

In the third, Rutman’s single to left scored J.D. Dillane. In the fourth, Ryan Costanzo, who reached on a single, scored on an error.

Blumberg entered with one out in the third and, as twilight descended, held the Wildcats at bay.

“A lot of it was the strike percentage,” he said of his masterly performance. “Seventy-one percent strikes tonight. Just filling up the zone. That was a huge component. Coach Morris preaches throwing strikes. That was the game changer.”

Curveballs and sweepers, he said, kept the Wildcats off balance.

“A sweeper is a modified pitch of a curveball and a slider,” he said.  “A lot of horizontal break on it. Stays on the same plane as the fastball and gets people really off timing. That was definitely a key pitch tonight.”

That said…

“I do not try to strike people out,” he added. “I get lucky here and there and get a couple of strikeouts in a row, but pitching to contact and trusting my defense is my big thing.”

The Raiders sent 12 batters to the plate in the fateful sixth. 

Wyatt Lillar led off with a walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Will Haynie followed with a single up the middle to score Lillar and begin the onslaught.

By the time the Wildcats quelled the Atlee bats, Haynie, Baedke, Dillane, Rutman, Dylan Mohr, and Costanzo also crossed the plate.

“We have a culture at Atlee of never giving up,” said Haynie, a senior third baseman. “We always keep our foot on the gas and fight until the last moment.”

Keeping the pedal down includes stringing hits together and running the bases with controlled abandon, as 12 hits and seven stolen bases attest.

“With the baseball IQ that we have, we’re able to bounce around, be smart, and keep them on their toes,” Haynie said. “We’re aggressive, but we can’t be stupid-aggressive. We have to be smart-aggressive and take any base that we can.”

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Deep Run’s Thomas Sanborn reached second base on an error and scored on Lucas Lake’s single to right, but the game ended a batter later on a Haynie to first baseman Rutman putout.

“This (win) shows how strong we are at Atlee.,” Haynie said. “It’s a win, but we have to continue on and win the week.”