Baseball: Cougars Lose Home-Opener to Rival Warhawks

The Oakton Cougars lost their home-opener to crosstown rival Madison Warhawks 6-2 on Saturday.

The Cougars and Warhawks stayed scoreless for three innings, but Madison took a large lead after a solo home run from junior second baseman Nate Favero in the fourth and then a five-run, fifth-inning rally.

The Cougars threatened a comeback in the sixth with a two-out rally against relief pitcher Andy McGuire, who came in at the beginning of the inning for starter Eli Facenda. Senior center fielder Luke Willis hit a hard groundball to third base that stumped Madison's Dan Powers, and allowed Willis to reach first with two outs in the inning. Willis, who has committed to play Division 1 baseball with Coastal Carolina University next year, then took advantage of two passed balls to advance to third.

Catcher Chris Hanson then walked, putting runners at first and third. After a single from designated hitter Dennis Cooney scored Willis and a single from Ty Carroll scored Hanson, the Cougars trailed 6-2, with two outs and two runners on. Left fielder Brian Burns walked to load the bases, but a strikeout from right fielder John Titus ended the inning.

Justin Janis, Oakton head coach, said his team needs to work on knocking in runners in scoring position. The Cougars had seven runners in scoring position throughout the game. Before the sixth-inning rally, three Cougars had extra base hits — Ty Carroll, double; Chad Carroll, triple; and Chris Hanson, double.

"We just didn't get the big hit when we had guys in scoring position and we needed it," he said.

Despite the Warhawks' rally in the fifth, Janis liked what he saw from starting pitcher R.J. Garcia, who struck out four batters, hit two and gave up five hits. After two outs, two hits and two runs in the fifth gave the Warhawks a 3-0 lead, relief pitcher Andy Gross came in for Garcia.

"He was great today. He threw the ball really well, it was just that one inning he got in trouble, and it was all on two outs and two strikes," Janis said.

All six of the Warhawks' runs were scored with two outs in the inning, and six of their 10 hits came with two strikes against the batter.

"I thought the story of the day for us was two-strike and two-out hitting," said Mark Gjormand, Madison's head coach. "I thought we did a nice job with that. We've really emphasized that."

Noteable Warhawks stats: Favero went 4 for 4 with a home run, double and two singles. Jay Kenyon went 2 for 3, hitting a two-run homer in the fifth. Facenda, who has signed to play Division 1 baseball with Lehigh University next year, struck out three and had no walks.

Janis is proud his team kept Madison challenged late in the game, and said it speaks to the character of the team.

"I think our kids have a lot of fight, and they don't give up," Janis said. "We expected them to stay in it and go for all seven innings."

Oakton's next game is 6 p.m. March 30 at home against Loudoun Valley.