FREDERICK — Sometimes it’s a matter of expecting the unexpected.
Frederick baseball coach Ted Clapp and his staff were more than prepared for the first of the two games this week against the Tri-Valley League-leading Windsor Wizards. They just didn’t get the pitcher they thought they would.
The Warriors faced their first southpaw of the year in Windsor’s Cole Brandon, and could never get anything going against him in a 3-1 loss on Thursday.
“We guessed wrong and we prepared for the right-hander and we knew that they had a big strong left-hander that was coming,” said Clapp, who will have a chance at redemption on Saturday in Windsor. “There were two kids we were preparing for and we were taking an all-out guess who was going to come out here today and we were wrong.
“He came out and he threw well. Credit to him.”
Brandon kept the Warriors (4-2, 1-2) off-balance with a nice mix of speeds, and when he needed to rear back and bring the heat he did so up high and the Frederick batters chased.
The Warriors struck out nine times against Brandon, and eight of those were from their 5 through 9 hitters.
“His fastball was just hard enough and it put us in a tough spot. It took us until the very end of the game to get a handle at the plate,” Clapp said, “And by then it was too late.”
Lane Hiser squared up the first pitch Brandon threw in the bottom of the sixth for a leadoff double to the left-center field gap. But a flyout by Michael Broz, a pop-up by Ryan Cawthra and a strikeout by Matt Entrekin kept Hiser stranded at second.
“The one thing that we’ve got to change is we can’t walk up to the plate and strike out,” Clapp said. “We’ve got to find a way to put the ball in play when we are down in the count and credit to them, they put the ball in play every single time they were down in the count.”
Broz drove in Frederick’s only run of the game in the bottom of the third inning, a Texas-leaguer to right field that plated Mitch Held.
Frederick pitcher Josh Entrekin pitched very well, but the disciplined Wizards hitters took advantage when the senior left pitches over the plate and simply hit it where the Warriors defenders weren’t.
“It’s always frustrating when they stick the bat out there and they find a hole,” said Josh Entrekin, who dropped to 0-1 on the season. “Credit to them for getting that done, but it is always hard to watch when you are doing all you can.”
Windsor (7-0, 4-0) scored one run in first, second and fourth innings. The Wizards got a little help from the Warriors in the second when Garrett Graff singled, moved to third on a two-base throwing error by Josh Entrekin and then scored on another throwing error by shortstop Eric Worley when they should have had a third out at second base.
“The kids executed everything they were supposed to do right, we put them in a tough spot,” Clapp said, “and then we turn around and made a little bit of a mistake.”
Wizards catcher Tyler Shubert went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI and Brandon helped himself out, going 2-for-2 and driving in the third run in the fourth inning.
The Warriors know they will have to have a short memory with Game 2 against the Wizards on Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve just got to let this one go and come out and do what we can on Saturday,” Josh Entrekin said. “And hopefully we will pull it out.”
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Windsor 3, Frederick 1
At Frederick H.S.
Windsor (7-0, 4-0) 110 100 0 — 3 11 1
Frederick (4-2, 1-2) 001 000 0 — 1 4 2
W — Brandon (3-0). L — J. Entrekin (0-1).
Windsor hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Deering 2-1-1-0, Hammond 2-0-1-0, Pribble 4-0-1-0, Watson 4-0-1-0, Shubert 3-0-3-1, Knott 0-0-0-0, Fischer 4-0-0-0, Starck 2-1-1-0, Graff 2-1-1-0, Brandon 2-0-2-1, Linnemann 0-0-0-0, Wheeler 3-0-0-0. Totals 28-3-11-2. 2B —Shubert. SB —Deering, Starck.
Frederick hitting (ab-r-h-rbi) — Worely 3-0-1-0, Hiser 3-0-1-0, Broz 3-0-1-1, Cawthra 3-0-0-0, Smith 2-0-0-0, M. Entrekin 1-0-0-0, Montano 3-0-0-0, Zuniga 3-0-0-0, J. Entrekin 2-0-0-0, Rodriguez 1-0-0-0, Held 2-1-1-0. Totals 26-1-4-1. 2B — Hiser. SB —Broz.
Windsor pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — Brandon 7-4-1-1-0-9.
Frederick pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — J. Entrekin 6-9-3-2-1-1, M. Entrekin 1-2-0-0-0-0.
