Matoaca finds its groove after baseball team's uneven start

Another hassle.

That was the last thing the Matoaca Warriors needed.

Their 2026 baseball season had been full of them already.

First off, Coach Andre’ Moore’s guys were young and inexperienced.

Graduation, you see, had taken much of last year’s team that finished 17-6 and reached the Region 5C semifinal game, and several of the departures were now playing at the next level.

Then, after a 3-1 start in late March, the bottom dropped out when, over the next four weeks, they went 1-6 and were shaking their collective heads and wondering, “What do we have to do to catch a break?”

Last week, though, they steadied the ship and defeated both Thomas Dale 2-0 and Hopewell 3-0 on the road.

Their prospects were improving with a trip to J.R. Tucker on the docket for Monday, but then, in a whatever-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong moment, they had a transportation glitch that delayed their departure 40 minutes, no small issue since Tucker is a good 45-minute bus ride in rush hour from their campus in southern Chesterfield County.

What could have broken them, though, only fired them up.

After arriving late, hustling to the Ron Atkins Field, and warming up quickly, they lit up the Tigers with four runs in the top of the first inning, delivered two more in the second, and finished with four in the sixth and five in the seventh to claim a 15-5 victory and even their record at 7-7.

“This is a unique group,” Moore said. “Sometimes, you don’t know what you’re going to get from them. Being able to come out and show-and-go helped us tonight and got us going.

“We’ve been through a rough patch. We’re a new group, a young group. We’re making some young-guy mistakes, but we’re battling through.”

As the Warriors were putting runs on the newly installed scoreboard in centerfield, Wyatt Capps was neutralizing the Tucker bats on this cool, clear, breezy evening.

The senior righthander pitched the first five innings, allowed five hits, one earned run, and zero walks, and struck out 10 with a nasty breaking pitch.

“I threw the curve ball really well and finished up with the fastball,” he said. “I could really place the curve ball (by) finding the right grip and snapping it real hard.”

The delayed start wasn’t a problem, he said, even with a briefer-than-usual warmup.

“Just went out and played the game,” he said. “Didn’t think about it as much.”

The Warriors availed themselves of virtually every mistake the Tigers (3-9) made.

They stole bases, ran on errant pitches, and extended base hits with controlled abandon and impunity.

“These past couple of games, we’ve started to get more aggressive at the plate, which is really good,” said sophomore third baseman Jarrod Riddick, who went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and three runs scored.

“Overall, we’re seeing the ball better. We’re attacking pitches earlier in the count rather than sitting back and waiting for the perfect pitch. Stealing base and taking extra bases is something we’re strong at. We kept it up tonight.”

Matoaca’s Xevon Wilkinson led off the first inning with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on Jase Elder’s single to left.

That sequence set the tone for the offensive barrage that the Warriors were about to deliver.

By inning’s end, Elder, Stephen Ankiel, and Riddick had crossed the plate.

Matoaca went up 6-0 after two innings when Landon Coluccio, who opened the second with a single, scored on an error and Ankiel, who drew a base on balls on a 3-2 count, scored on a fielder’s choice.

Coluccio opened the sixth with a single up the middle and scored when Wilkinson drilled a triple off the wall in left centerfield. Coluccio scored on Elder’s infield out, and Ankiel, who walked, and Riddick, who singled, scored on passed balls.

Elder, Ankiel, Jaelen Penson (courtesy runner for catcher Carter Edwards), Riddick, and Coluccio crossed the plate in the seventh.

The Tigers, though down, continued to play with heart and intentionality.

Jacob Worsham scored runs in the fifth and seventh. Kam Watkins added another in the seventh.

Junior shortstop Walker Perkins went 3-for-4 with a run in the second, an RBI single scoring Watkins in the fourth, and another single in the seventh.

He also ended a threat in the third inning with an unassisted double play by snagging a line drive, then stepping on second before the runner, going on the pitch, recovered.

“We needed it (the win) bad,” said Capps, the starting pitcher. “We definitely built up our confidence tonight. We’re looking forward to the next game.”