Vienna Suffers First Loss in Babe Ruth State Tourney

The 15-U Vienna All-Stars fell to Winchester, the defending state champions, in their second game of the Babe Ruth Leagues of Virginia State Tournament on Friday.

The 8-3 defeat puts Vienna one loss away from elimination.

A day after stellar pitching led the team to a shutout victory, the Vienna All-Stars floundered defensively and could not put together rally offensively in Friday's game.

"We came out flat. They played better and we beat ourselves," said Russ Ekanger, Vienna's manager. "I haven't seen our defense play that badly since the Memorial Day tournament. And that catcher [Keith Hummer] shut our running game down. He had a cannon."

Vienna scored all three of its runs in the third inning after Winchester scored one in the bottom of the second off a double from Zach Herbaugh.

Brian Boehm got things started for Vienna in the third with a line drive single, then stole second base two pitches later. Andrew DiFrancisco followed up with a bunt single, then an overthrow allowed Boehm to sore and DiFrancisco to reach second base.

Kalib Ashcraft kept things going with a bunt single of his own, then a sacrifice fly from Riley Cummins and a suicide squeeze — with Chris Kim in the batter's box and Ashcraft on the base path — scored Vienna its last two runs of the game.

The rest of the game belonged to Winchester, who scored the winning run in the third inning off a bunt single from Austin De Tray, but kept adding on runs in the fourth thanks in part to defensive missteps from Vienna.

Vienna moves into the loser's bracket and will play the winner of the Augusta-Brunswick matchup at 1 p.m Saturday at Waters Field.

"They know what's on the line. They'll rise to the occasion tomorrow," Ekanger said. "I'm not exactly sure what happened to them mentally today, but they know it's do or die tomorrow."

Game statistics

Vienna

Hits: Brian Boehm (single), Andrew DiFrancisco (single), Kalib Ashcraft (single), Tommy Doyle (double), Riley Cummins (single), Patrick Eason (single)
RBI: Cummins (1), Chris Kim (1)

Winchester

Hits: Adam Marston (single, double), Keith Hummer (two singles), Zach Herbaugh (double), Trent Marchi (single, double), Austin De Tray (single), Rennie Marchi (single), Alex Portillo (single)
RBI: Herbaugh (1), Marston (2), Hummer (1), De Tray (2), Portillo (1)