Baseball strikes out against Hayfield

A little less than three weeks ago, AHS varsity Baseball was coming off two straight district wins. Five losses later, with a loss to West Potomac, whom they had defeated earlier in the season, the Atoms had fallen to 3-7 in the Patriot District.

After the 9-0 loss to West Potomac HS on Friday night, the players felt that they needed to play more efficiently on defense.

“We need to make routine plays,” said senior designated hitter Tyler Coquelin. “We’re just making errors.”
Senior pitcher and center fielder Eric Bridge was in agreement with Coquelin.

“We’ve got to make the easy plays,” Bridge said. “The pitching has been good, but not being able to make routine plays makes the pitchers look bad.”

“The defense needs to pick up the pitchers,” said pitching coach Tim St. Clair, expanding on the defensive struggles. “We can’t give up free outs.”

Others believed that the mistakes happened due to mental lapses and lack of confidence.

“Being focused before the game and staying concentrated during the game are things we need to work on,” said Clayton. “We can’t get down and we need to keep our heads in the game if we fall behind early. If there’s an error, the whole team has got to pick up the player.”

“They’ve got to believe they can make the play,” said head coach Ron Abrigo. “They have to expect the ball, play and have fun.”

Although there has been poor defensive play, the pitching has been praised by Abrigo, the number one pitcher Bridge, and St. Clair.

“The scoreboard doesn’t tell how hard the pitchers work,” Bridge said.

“The pitching has gone very well,” Abrigo said. “We just haven’t manufactured runs or made plays on defense.”
“Our pitchers did a tremendous job and threw really well,” said St. Clair after the loss to West Potomac HS. “Pitchers can make pitches all day long but if the defense doesn’t make plays, it’s going to be a long night.”

Coach St. Clair also mentioned the exceptional play of sophomore Ryan Schubert in the game against South County Secondary School, a team expected to compete for the Northern Region Championship.

“Bridge and Schubert have been good, but there just hasn’t been support hitting or in the field,” said Abrigo.

With three district games left in the season, the Atoms are looking to finish fourth or fifth going into the Patriot District Tournament.

The Atoms played the Lake Braddock Bruins last night, but the game concluded too late for the results to be published in this edition.  Now, the Atoms look ahead to Robert E. Lee, T.C. Williams, and West Springfield. Of these teams, AHS has only