[See more photos from this game in our gallery.]
OLNEY—The Sherwood High School baseball team has gotten off to an impressive 9-0 start.
On April 13, the Warriors added another victory to their undefeated run with a stunning 7-0 home shutout over Gaithersburg, who had entered the contest 7-3.
Despite their opponents’ good record midway through the season, Sherwood continued making quick work with excellent hitting and strong pitching.
Head Coach Sean Davis said he is proud of his team’s 10-0 start, but he also hopes the winning will continue later on in the season.
“Obviously the boys are happy with how they’re playing,” said Davis. “We like winning games, but we want to win games in May. Our goal is to be playing our best baseball in May.”
The first run of the game came in the bottom of the first when a wild pitch from Trojans junior pitcher Kevin Allison allowed Sherwood senior first baseman Michael Bouma to steal second base, and junior shortstop Luke Cheng to make his way from third to home plate.
In the next inning, junior catcher Ethan Giacalone hit a sac fly to center field, sending home senior pitcher Ben Vok.
Then, in the bottom of the third inning, with the bases loaded, senior third baseman Bradshaw Steeley singled to left field and drove in another run for Sherwood, extending their lead by three runs.
After getting a walk and a single, Bouma tripled to deep-left field and sent home Cheng and Joey Bowers to increase the rout to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
“I really grinded this offseason because of my senior year,” said Bouma. “I wanted to make it the best one.”
Despite no runs in the fifth, Sherwood finished it off in the bottom of the sixth with two more runs. When Bowers’s at-bat resulted in a fielding error in right field, Cheng made his way from first to home increasing their visitors’ deficit even more.
Finally, Bouma hit an RBI single to drive in another Warriors run, as the senior ended the afternoon going 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs and a walk.
“He’s one of the best hitters around,” said Davis. “That’s what we expect of him. When he comes up in big situations, we like when he produces.”
Vok was also one of the key contributors to the Warriors’ 10th consecutive victory, as he struck out 11 batters in five innings. Senior pitcher Trevor McCormick finished it off in the last two innings, earning the save.
“Every game I come out, try to be dominant,” said Vok. “This season’s been working out for me.”
“Ben pitched his butt off,” Bouma said. “We played a well-coached G-Burg team and I’m pretty happy about the win.”
Overall, Davis was proud of the shutout performance and the way his squad played.
“Ben did a great job on the mound, and Trevor came in and cleaned it up,” Davis said. “Offensively, I was happy with what we did. They have two pretty good arms. We did very well in two-out hitting situations, scratched and clawed and got seven runs.”
Meanwhile, the Trojans could only muster four hits on the day against Sherwood pitchers. but Head Coach Tim Pritchard knew that the matchup was going to be tough for his team.
“I’m proud of my guys,” said Pritchard. “We hung in there with them for a while. At the end of the day, they just hit the ball, they pitched the ball, and they fielded the ball.”
