Towns, Lake Braddock Eliminate Stone Bridge in Baseball

Stone Bridge’s senior-laden baseball team saw its season come to an end Wednesday in the Class AAA Northern Region semifinal when it came up against a pitcher who will be pitching for the top-ranked college baseball team in the nation next year.

Lake Braddock right-hander Kenny Towns, bound for the University of Virginia this fall, tossed an efficient seven innings to lead the Bruins to a 2-0 win over the Bulldogs. He even had enough left in the seventh inning to strike out Josh Kuzbel, J.J. White and Ryan Johnston, Stone Bridge’s 2-3-4 hitters, to emphatically close the game.

“He was lights out on the mound today,” said Lake Braddock coach Jody Rutherford. “Just a big-time performance in a big-time situation.”

Towns, the Patriot District’s co-player of the year, allowed only four hits and just one Bulldog batter reached third base as Lake Braddock turned a pair of key double plays to get out of jams in the second and sixth innings.

Down 2-0, the Bulldogs were itching to get a rally started in the sixth after pinch-hitter Collin Karafa singled with one out. With the first baseman holding the runner and the second baseman playing up the middle, Towns got left-handed batter Spenser Rositano to hit a hard ground ball to Lake Braddock third baseman Alex Lewis who started a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.

“That ball is a foot right or left, it’s down the line for a double, and it could be a whole different game,” said Stone Bridge coach Sam Plank. “You’ve just got to take your hat off to Kenny – that’s why he’s Player of the Year.”

Towns said he used a slide-step, a quick move to the plate, in an effort to handcuff Rositano.

“I’ve always just tried to put the ball wherever it’s pitched. It just happened to be outside, and I just swung and hit it right at him.  There was nothing I could really do, he just made a good play,” Rositano said.

A double play also ended a Stone Bridge threat in the second, as Ty Lighton lined out to second baseman Dylan O’Connor who doubled Johnston at first.

Rositano said Towns and McLean righty Josh Sborz were the two best pitchers his team had faced this season.

“They both pitched the same speed, but Kenny had a good hook and he kept us guessing,” he said. “He pitched a heck of a game.”

Towns said he knew he faced a challenging opponent and threw credit to his team for the win.

“I knew I just needed to go out there and throw strikes,” said Towns, whose Bruins will face undefeated South County in the regional championship Friday night. “Our defense was playing a hell of a game the whole time and they stepped it up in the last innings even more.”

The Bruins scored runs in the first and second innings against Stone Bridge starter Steve Putnick, who went 5 2/3 innings while striking out four and allowing just five hits. One run was unearned.

Lake Braddock centerfielder Alex Gransback led off the game with a single and moved to third on a double down the left-field line by Towns. First baseman Andrew Weidinger drove Gransback in with a sacrifice fly to center. In the second, Mitch Spille hit into what looked like an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play, but he was safe at first and advanced to second on wild throw by Rositano. Gransback then drove Spille home with a single.

Rutherford pointed to his team’s defense as the right complement to Towns’ work in the game.

“The difference tonight is that we played pretty good defense behind him and that’s not always the case with the group we have,” he said.

Plank said the Bulldogs, who finished 17-8, were a pleasure to coach this season.

“These guys make me want to keep coaching. I had fun this year. When kids work hard and they’re a baseball family, it makes it fun to coach,” he said, adding that he expects a good season next year in spite of 10 seniors graduating.

“We’ve got a really good JV team, we’ve got a lot of good young guys coming up,” he said, also pointing to pitcher Tyler Mocabee as a player to watch in 2012. “We’ve got a lot of talented guys that are going to step right in next year and fill roles.”

Rositano, who leaves to play football for Boston College in just a couple of weeks, said the Stone Bridge squad should be solid next season.

“We should win the district, but it’s going to be up to [the younger guys] to step up now and fill our spots,” he said, noting Josh and Jake Kuzbel as key infielders for 2012.  “They’re going to have a bright futures.”

Rositano, who put together one of the top athletic resumes of anyone in the Stone Bridge class of 2011, including being named the Liberty District player of the year, said his last season as a Bulldog was a good one.

I enjoyed it all, soaked it all in. It’s a sad ending, but it’s an honor to get this far in the first place and have such a great season,” he said.