Baseball: Cougars End Run for District Title

Looking to defend their Concorde District title, the Oakton High baseball team faced the Westfield Bulldogs on Friday in the district tournament semifinals with a 1-1 record against them this season.

But in their third matchup the Cougars lost to the Bulldogs 7-5, ending their chances at a repeat title but not ending their postseason run. With their semifinal appearance, the Cougars earned an automatic berth into the Northern Region Tournament. 

"The loss was a combination of things, walks, a couple errors, hit batters, but also Westfield got some key hits, too," Coach Justin Janis said.

In the top of the first inning, the Cougars posted the first run of the game when Mason Hauser, standing at third base, took advantage of a passed ball to score. The Bulldogs did not match the run until the third inning, scoring on a throwing error. They took the lead on a passed ball in the same inning.

The Cougars tied the game in the third inning when the Bulldogs overthrew to third base in an attempt to catch Joey Bartosic stealing. Bartosic advanced to home on the error. They took back the lead by taking advantage of another Bulldog fielding error to score Hauser. Later in the inning, Ty Carroll hit an RBI single to plate Dale Good for a 4-2 lead. 

In the bottom of the inning, the Bulldogs reclaimed the lead for good, scoring five runs on five hits and one error.

With Wade Arduini on the mound for the Bulldogs for the last four innings after starter Bryan Drager and reliever Sean Barry, the Cougars had one hit — a solo home run from Brian Burns in the fifth for the last run of the game.

Matt Gregor served as starting pitcher for the Cougars. Tommy Lopez relieved him in the second inning, and Conor Flanagan pitched from the third inning on.

"Once Conor got comfortable out there, he was able to get into a groove," Janis said. "There was a hiccup here and there, but he was working out of trouble enough especially after the first inning he was in." 

The loss snaps a the Cougars' streak of six straight district wins. The Cougars will play the first round of the Northern Region Tournament, their opponent still to be determined, 7 p.m. Thursday.

"We just gotta understand that when you start playing in the big games, little things get magnified. In the end they're going to have an impact on the result," Janis said. "Overall, we've been playing really well lately. Really it was one tough inning. If you take that out of it, I think we'll be OK."