By Eric Kolenich
Media General News Service

With each pitch they threw, the frustration mounted for the Cosby Titans. Time and again, the ball hummed toward home plate, catcher Luke Lowery caught it, and held it out for an instant in his mitt. And each time, the umpire stood there like a statue, completely motionless.

Ball.

For one inning, the strike zone must have felt a hundred feet away for Cosby’s pitchers. They walked six batters in the third, allowing seven Woodbridge runs to cross the plate. The Titans never recovered. Woodbridge defeated Cosby 9-4, eliminating the Titans from the group AAA state semifinals.

Woodbridge (27-0) played West Springfield in the Virginia High School League Group AAA state final and lost 10-2. Cosby (20-7) returned home having advanced the furthest in the program’s four-year history.

“They had a wonderful season,” Cosby coach Tim Lowery said. “They did a great job. Bad things happened, and we weren’t able to recover.”

Cosby starting pitcher Garrett Birnbaum started the third inning by walking the first two batters and then allowing a two-run double to Woodbridge pitcher Tyler Thomas. That tied the game 3-3.

Zack Szwed gave Woodbridge the lead with a two-out single into center field. Mitchell Shifflett almost threw Thomas out at home, but the ball came out of Luke Lowery’s glove. Szwed went for second. Birnbuam, backing up the play, tried to throw him out, but the ball flew into right-center and rolled to the wall. Szwed scored easily, making the score 5-3.

Things went from bad to worse. Michael Carpenter came in to pitch with a runner on second. He hit his first batter, and then walked the next three, scoring two runs. Tim Lowery then called on Travis McQueen to pitch. After walking his first batter – the fourth in a row – McQueen finally stopped the hemorrhaging by getting Nick Rogowski to ground to third with the bases loaded.

“It was just really frustrating,” Luke Lowery, Tim’s son, said. “There were a couple close balls here and there, but when our pitchers aren’t throwing strikes, it doesn’t give us much of a chance.” Thirteen Woodbridge batters came to the plate, resulting in seven runs on only three hits. Woodbridge suddenly was up 8-3.

“Obviously, they made it a lot easier with their pitchers struggling with control,” Woodbridge coach Jason Ritenour said. “And that worked out in our favor because they hit the ball very well.”

Cosby got home runs from Kyle McKay and Birnbuam – the No. 8 and 9 hitters – in the second, and one from cleanup hitter Ben Sisk in the third. The Titans had hits in every inning but the fourth. Christian Beyer and Will Vacca led the team with two hits each.

In the sixth, Cosby had runners on second and third when Rogowski, the Woodbridge left fielder, made a diving catch on a hit by Christian Hamlett, squelching a potential rally.

“If we miss that ball, who knows what happens,” Ritenour said. “That was a huge play in the game.” McQueen kept Cosby in the game after the third inning. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits. He struck out four.

Eric Kolenich is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Woodbridge ……… 107 000 1 – 9 11 0
Cosby …………….. 031 000 0 – 4 11 1