Bulldog Baseball Advances, Players Earn All-District Honors

The Stone Bridge Bulldogs baseball team celebrated the accomplishments of Liberty District Player of the Year Spencer Rositano and Coach of the Year Sam Plank in grand fashion Friday afternoon, dismantling the overmatched W.T. Woodson Cavaliers in an 11-3 first round regional playoff romp. 

Rositano, the all-everything second baseman and Boston College-bound football player, launched his first home run of the year, and nearly the entire Bulldog lineup contributed in the blowout.

Besides Rositano, the following Bulldogs also earned first team all-district honors:

• J.J. White – Catcher
• Ty Lighton – Short Stop
• Ryan Johnston – Third Base
• Josh Kuzbel – Outfield
• Steve Putnick – Pitcher
• Ty Mocabee – Pitcher

(Game write-up courtesy of Steve Johnston)

In a game that had several intriguing storylines, the Bulldogs defeated Woodson 11-3 Friday afternoon in a first round game of the Northern Region playoffs. The Bulldogs pounded out 13 hits, including 4 home runs, and received heroic pitching performances from seniors Stephen Putnick and Mac West. 

With the game just minutes old, Woodson cleanup hitter David Rozner lined a shot directly at Putnick. The ball hit Putnick's glove and rolled a short distance, allowing Rozner to leg out an infield hit, and sending Brant Thomas in for the first run of the game.

A lengthy delay ensued as Coach Sam Plank assessed Putnick's injury from the play – which turned out to be a broken finger and shattered fingernail. Unable to catch even a soft throw with his glove, Putnick received the return throws from catcher J.J. White with his throwing hand. Putnick finished the inning and pitched a perfect second. A he pitched into the third, with two outs, a 30-minute lightning delay ensued. When play resumed, Plank called on West to relieve Putnick. West turned in his best outing of the season going 4 1/3 innings allowing just four hits and striking out 8 Woodson hitters. Neither Putnick nor West walked a batter.
 
The Bulldog hitters entered the game facing Patriot District Pitcher of the Year Bryson Hough, but sent an early message that they were not intimidated and would be up for the challenge. Four first-inning singles by Josh Kuzbel (3-4, 3R, SB), J. J. White (2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 Runs), Tyler Lighton (2-4, 2B, 2 Runs, 2 RBI) and Sid Harvey (2-3, HR, 3 RBI) plated three runs to give the Bulldogs an early 3-1 lead.

That score stuck until the bottom of the third when senior Ryan Johnston (1-3, HR, 2 RBI) sent Kuzbel across the plate on a 2-run homer to left field, his fourth of the season. Woodson responded with two unearned runs in the top of the fourth, but Stone Bridge persisted with four more in the bottom of the fifth that, after which Woodson took Hough out of the game.

Leading off the inning, Rositano lifted a long opposite-field home run, his first of the season. A double by Lighton sent Kuzbel, who previously doubled, in for a run. Lighton would then score on Harvey's second home run of the season. Not to be outdone, White capped the scoring in sixth with his own two-run shot, his fifth homer of the season.

A couple of sterling defensive plays also served the Bulldogs in the win. When Woodson's Joe Coogan launched a drive to left-center leading off the sixth inning, the play had extra bases written all over it. But centerfielder Alex Wynn arrived out of nowhere with a diving highlight-reel catch. Later in the inning, first baseman Connor Donovan ended the inning with a great stop on Ryan Fitzgerald's sharp one-hopper. 
 
With the win, Stone Bridge advances to play Robinson at 1 p.m. Monday, May 30, at Woodson.