BASEBALL
Cougars, Cadets race for final playoff spot
The Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association state tournament is next week. The top eight teams as determined by a committee of coaches will qualify.
Collegiate (13-6) is eighth. In the ninth spot, just outside the tournament field, is Benedictine (13-10). Only one point separates them.
“Both teams are very deserving,” Benedictine coach Sean Ryan said. “But it’s a unique year. There’s a lot of depth within Division I baseball this year.”
Collegiate has won eight in a row and beat Benedictine 6-3 on April 23. The Cougars’ final game of the season is today against Fork Union Military Academy.
“There are arguments for both sides,” Collegiate coach Andrew Slater said. “Benedictine and us have had a nice year, and we both have good teams.”
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Benedictine has a win over Liberty Christian, the No. 1 team in the state, on its résumé. Plus, three of its losses came in a competitive tournament in Florida. The Cadets play Woodberry Forest today and Bishop Sullivan on Saturday.
The idea of expanding the tournament to 10 teams has been discussed. Such a decision also would help Trinity Episcopal, which is ranked 10th in the state. But the league has not yet moved in that direction.
“There’s not a lot of discrepancy between 1 and 10,” Slater said.
The tournament field will be announced Sunday.
Thomas Dale riding 8-game streak
After starting the season 1-3, Thomas Dale has won eight straight games. Knights coach Chris Marshall attributes the turnaround to fixing a number of missteps that plagued them in the first four games. Among the problems were walks, errors and base-running blunders.
“We made a lot of changes,” Marshall said.
The Knights’ pitching staff also has been strong during the winning streak. Junior Nathan Eaton is 3-1 with a 1.12 ERA and 34 strikeouts. Collin Fleischer, a senior headed to VMI, is 4-0 with a 1.81 ERA.
Because of rainouts, Thomas Dale will play 10 games in the final three weeks, including four games in four consecutive days the last week of the season.
“We’ll really get to see what our pitching staff is made of,” Marshall said.
Dale (9-3) entered Friday in second place in Conference 3 behind Cosby (13-0). James River (10-4) is third and Varina (7-4) is fourth.
Thomas Dale seniors Brian Goodwyn and Maurice Gothe have committed to Hampden-Sydney. Goodwyn is hitting .487 with 14 RBIs. Gothe was named second-team all-region last year.
• Monacan picked up its first win of the season Wednesday when the Chiefs (1-11) beat L.C. Bird 4-3 in eight innings.
• Douglas Freeman beat Deep Run 6-1 on Wednesday. The Wildcats are the first team to score a run against the Rebels in six games. Only J.R. Tucker and Thomas Jefferson have scored more than a single run against Freeman this season. Freeman has outscored its opponents 121-10.
• James River will host a benefit game against Benedictine on Saturday at 6 p.m. Proceeds will go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
