Lake Braddock Baseball Keeps Right on Winning

No. 3 Lake Braddock is one of the sturdiest Virginia AAA Northern Region baseball programs, but this season there are few players around who can speak first-hand about the Bruins winning two of the past three region titles.

Junior shortstop Ryan Lindemuth, sophomore right fielder Kenny Towns and senior left-hander Brian Derner are the only seasoned veterans on a team that once again has advanced deep into the playoffs after a 9-1 win over Centreville yesterday in a region quarterfinal game at Madison.

Lake Braddock (16-5) scored five runs in the first inning and felt comfortable enough after three to pull starting pitcher Derner in case he is needed in the tomorrow's semifinal against No. 1 Westfield, set for 4 p.m. at Robinson. Westfield edged South County, 3-1, also at Madison.

Derner, junior Thomas Gramsch and Towns combined on a three-hitter against Centreville (10-13), which managed only an unearned run in the seventh.

Towns went 2 for 4, and sophomores Andrew Weidinger and Ryan Owens and senior Driss Bernoussi all had two-run hits. Bernoussi was the only senior in the batting order, a testament to how these are new Bruins with old Bruin ways.

Lake Braddock Coach Jody Rutherford mentions the program's recent history sparingly.

"You just kind of pick and choose when you use it," he said, before adding: "But this is their own group. They've kind of developed their team chemistry and the way they go about things."

So many times this season, Westfield senior shortstop Ryan Williams has taken the mound to close out a tight game. Not so yesterday, when the top-ranked Bulldogs ran sophomore Aaron Hoover back out to complete the win.

No matter that Hoover, the starter, had to work out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth, or that he had given up a home run to senior Seth Jordan in the sixth. Westfield Coach Chuck Welch wanted to give Hoover a shot at closing it himself.

Hoover retired the side in the seventh to sew up the eighth one- or two-run victory this season for Westfield (21-1).

In quarterfinals at Robinson yesterday, No. 2 West Springfield rallied to beat Robinson, 6-4, and No. 5 Chantilly trounced T.C. Williams, 13-0. Those winners will meet in the other region semifinal at 7 p.m. tomorrow, also at Robinson. The two teams that reach the region final also lock up state tournament berths.

Robinson senior Michael Del Buono carried a no-hitter into the fifth against West Springfield, but the Spartans scored six runs that inning to win.