Baseball: Cougars Battle Wildcats, Extend Win Streak

Coming into Thursday's game with a 4-1 record — undefeated in Concorde District play — the Cougars had reason to be confident in facing the 1-6 Centreville Wildcats.

But Cougar head coach Justin Janis doesn't take any fellow Concorde teams for granted.

"Any team in the Concorde District, we're expecting it to be close," Janis said. "That's a good team. They've got some guys who can really hit in that lineup. I'm just glad we were able to come out on top."

And though the Cougars prevailed with an 8-7 win, the Wildcats proved Janis' point.

The lead switched between the teams four times and resulted in both the Cougars' and the Wildcats' closest game of the season. The Cougars would not score the winning run until the bottom of the seventh after relief pitcher Mitch Mahoney walked third baseman Mitch Carroll (2 for 3, 1 RBI) with bases loaded from three other walks.

The game started with the Wildcats jumping ahead 2-0 after an error from right fielder Brian Burns and a sacrifice fly from Wildcats catcher Bobby San Martin.

But Burns would more than make up for his error. He went 2 for 3 — both hits doubles — walked, and brought in two runs. In his third at-bat, he reached on an error from center fielder Texas Williams, which allowed the ball to roll near the fence and Burns to reach third base. He then scored the tying run after a passed ball.

"Brian's been playing very well for us," Janis said of the sophomore. "He's the type of player we really like. He's really hard-nosed, doesn't talk too much. He just goes about his business and is always playing hard. He practices hard, too, so it's not really surprising us that the results are coming in the game."

The game may not have been the Cougars' most polished — giving up eight hits and committing seven errors — but it did show a fighting spirit that is becoming somewhat of a theme for the squad, as the first seven of their runs came with two outs.

"We've been doing a pretty good job of not allowing easy innings this year," Janis said. "Offensively we've been very strong, we just need to do a better job earlier than that, with no outs or one out."

The Cougars will play again 6:30 p.m. today against Robinson (3-6).

Oakton stats:

Hits: Luke Willis (3 singles), Brian Burns (two doubles), Mitch Carroll (one double, one single), Chad Carroll (one single)
RBI: Burns (2), M. Carroll (1), Chris Hanson (1), Ty Carroll (1)