The playoff race was tight after Tuesday night, and it’s even tighter after tonight as four teams are tied for first place in District 23-5A with 11-4 records – Austin, Dulles, Kempner, and Travis. The Bulldogs made up their one-game deficit by knocking off the Dulles Vikings this afternoon 13-3, while Elkins (eliminated from playoff contention last night) played spoiler by beating Travis. Clements is still in the hunt, holding onto fifth place with a 10-5 record.

The Bulldogs got off to fast start again tonight, scoring a pair in both the top of the first and second innings. SS Barrett Barnes worked a one-out walk and stole second, then came around to score on 3B Ryan Dalton’s RBI single, his first of four hits on the afternoon. LF Blake Doerr moved Dalton to third with a double, and 1B Drew Miller plated Dalton with a sacrifice fly to left. In the second, 2B Luke Mulcahey led off with what should have been no less than a stand-up double in the right center gap, only to be robbed on a great catch by Dulles RF Medina. RF Tony Gigliotti headed the same direction, getting a line single just out of the reach of the second baseman. CF Daniel Rockett followed with a one-out single to left, and scored on Dalton’s single which was dropped during a diving catch by the left fielder. Doerr and Miller drew back-to-back walks, which scored Rockett to make it 4-0.

In the top of the third, the Bulldogs exploded for 5 more runs. Mulcahey earned a one-out walk and went to third on an errant pick-off throw. Gigliotti painted the left field line with a stand-up double to score Mulcahey, and Rockett and Barnes made it three doubles in a row to add two more runs. While the Bulldog Faithful were wondering if Dalton could make it four doubles in a row, he went one better with a 2-run homer to right, making it 9-0.

On the bottom-half of the ledger, Bulldog Starter A.J. Glasshof cruised through the first 8 batters, notching 4 strikeouts and getting a couple of web gems to back him up – a line drive catch by LF Doerr in the first, and a catch on a twisting pop-up in shallow right center by RF Gigliotti. With two outs in the third, CF Rockett tried to keep the no-hitter going by diving for a line drive in center, which ended up going for a triple. The Dulles lead-off hitter Merritt followed with a run-scoring double to break the ice for the Vikings, and he came around on a passed ball and errant throw to third to close the gap to 9-2.

The Vikings wouldn’t get any closer than that, though. The Bulldogs added a pair in both the fifth and the seventh. Rockett led off the fifth with a 4-pitch walk, stole second, and scored on a Dalton double, his fourth hit of the game. Dalton moved to third on Doerr’s fly ball to right, and scored on Miller’s infield hit to second. In the seventh, back-to-back lead-off walks to Barnes and Dalton was followed by Doerr’s second double of the day, making the Bulldog total 13 runs. Dulles scratched out another run in the fifth on two singles, a walk, and a sacrifice fly, to make the final tally 13-3. Glasshof went the distance, giving the bullpen a much-needed break during this four-game week.

Next up for the Bulldogs – on the road at Elkins on Friday at 7 p.m. The last regular season game will be the following Friday, Senior Night at home against Clements.

Bulldog Offensive Highlights:
· 14 hits for the Bulldogs, 7 for extra bases: HR, double, and two singles for 3B Ryan Dalton; two doubles for LF Blake Doerr; a double and a single each for CF Daniel Rockett and RF Tony Gigliotti; a ground-rule double for SS Barrett Barnes; and a single each for 1B Drew Miller, DH Erik Schweiger, and 2B Luke Mulcahey.

· 13 RBIs on the game: 5 for Dalton; 3 for Miller; 2 for Doerr; 1 each for Rockett, Barnes, and Gigliotti.

· Hard hit, but nothing to show it – line drive to left by Erik Schweiger in the second, blast to right center by 2B Luke Mulcahey, 307’ moonshot to the 308’ sign in left by CF Daniel Rockett, and a line drive to shortstop by 1B Drew Miller; could have been at least another 6 runs on the board for the Bulldogs.

· Hard hit, and something to show for it – with his second homer in two days, Ryan Dalton took over the team lead in HRs, 7-6 over Barrett Barnes. Erik Schweiger is in third with 5. As a team, 10 different Bulldogs have homered, for a total of 31 (compared to 19 last year).

Bulldog Pitching Highlights:
· A.J. Glasshof (4-2, 3-2), complete game, 7 innings, 6 K’s, 3 BBs, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs

Bulldog Defensive Highlights:
· LF Blake Doerr sets the defensive tone early, snaring a line drive to left for the first out in the bottom of the first inning.

· Wind-blown pop-up to shallow right center, caught by RF Tony Gigliotti for the first out in the third inning.

· 1B Drew Miller reaches over the dugout screen to snare a foul pop-up for the second out in the fourth inning.

· CF Daniel Rockett takes care of the last two outs in the fifth inning, making great catches on deep drives to both left center and right center.

· 3B Ryan Dalton teams with 2B Luke Mulcahey on the line drive double-play 5-4 to end the game.

Winning Pitcher: A.J. Glasshof

Losing Pitcher: John Hurne

Extra Base Hits, FBA: HR – Dalton; 2B – Doerr (2), Rockett, Barnes, Dalton, Gigliotti

Extra Base Hits, DUL: 3B - #31, 2B - Merritt

Score by inning:

Submitted by: Tom Miller