West Springfield Comes Back For 6-4 Win

Robinson Took Early 3-0 Lead

Robinson flirted with delivering the upset of the Virginia AAA Northern Region baseball tournament Monday, taking a 3-0 lead against No. 2 West Springfield before allowing six runs in the fifth inning of a 6-4 quarterfinal defeat.

That tight game against a region favorite capped an interesting final two weeks of the season for the Rams. Coach J.D. Detwiler left the team in mid-May, and two Robinson administrators with head coaching experience, Bill Evers and Jeff Ferrell, took over the program for the remainder of the season.

Evers coached Robinson from 2001 to 2007, and Ferrell coached Langley from 2001 to 2008.

Ferrell declined to comment on Detwiler's departure, and Detwiler and Robinson officials could not be reached to comment.

A series of walks helped start the West Springfield rally in the fifth inning, but after a double play line drive to senior shortstop Mike Kenah, the Rams thought they might get out of the inning with a lead intact. Later in the inning, though, West Springfield junior Bobby Wahl delivered a three-run homer, one of his team's three hits.

Spartans senior Mike Kent, the Northern Region pitcher of the year, didn't have his best stuff but still managed to strike out the third through fifth hitters in the seventh, after giving up a leadoff single to Kenah.

"It was a real tough way to go out," Kenah said. "It's baseball. We were in position" to win.

With the new coaches, Robinson beat Herndon in the Concorde District quarterfinals, upset Chantilly in the semis, lost to Westfield in the championship and beat Marshall in the first round of the region tournament.

"For a team that has won 14 straight games, we thought we gave [West Springfield] everything we had," Ferrell said.