Forest Park wins pitching duel against Woodbridge

With first place in the Cardinal District at stake, Jake Myer of Woodbridge and Bobby Schwier of Forest Park faced each other in a dual of pitchers with combined records of 9-2. What resulted was not a classic pitcher's duel, but one in which each pitcher was continually tested to throw good pitches with men on base.

Myer and Schwier each threw a gutty complete game, but the real battle was in which hurler would strand the most baserunners. In that area, Schwier came out slightly better, resulting in the Bruins' 3-1 win.

Forest Park (13-4, 6-1 Cardinal District) now sits alone atop the district, while Woodbridge (10-4, 4-2) fell into a second-place tie with Potomac.

Each pitcher gave up seven hits, while Myer had the edge in strikeouts, 8-5.

But while Myer stranded eight Bruins baserunners over six innings, Schwier left 11 Vikings on base in seven innings, including a pair of bases-loaded jams, to improve his record to 6-2. Myer suffered his first loss and is now 4-1.

"Bobby was all over the place at the beginning," said Forest Park catcher Ryan Thomas, "but he started hitting his spots at the end. He got through a couple of very tough situations."

Woodbridge touched Schwier for a run in the first inning on a run-scoring single by Joey Spadell that scored Kevin Tatum for what turned out to be the lone Vikings' run.

Forest Park responded in their half of the first with a pair of runs due to a double by Jonathan Wright and a bases-loaded walk to Taylor Herrel.

Myer allowed the first five Bruins to reach base and then suddenly found his rhythm. For the rest of the game, Myer scattered four hits and only one run.

"There is not a classier player in our district than Jake Myer," said Bruin manager John Colantuoni. "He's a first-class kid. He scares you when he's on the mound and he scares you at the plate."

Schwier, meanwhile, got out of bases-loaded situations in the first and third innings. In the final inning, Schwier allowed the first two Vikings' runners (Kevin Tatum and Myer) to reach base before nailing down the victory.

According to Thomas and Colantuoni, Schwier typifies the Bruins' rebuilt pitching staff that lost present collegians Jake Pruner and Justin Wright to graduation.

"Bobby didn't pitch a lot last year," said Thomas, who collected a single and double for Forest Park. "He knows he's not Jake or Juddy (Wright). He and Chris (Parouse) just do their jobs and keep us in the game."

Added Colantuoni, "(Pitching) coach Sonny (Moss) has the respect of these kids. He talks to them a lot one on one. He was successful on the high school and college level so they listen to him. Because of him, they aren't afraid to throw inside and they have confidence in their fastballs."

Forest Park's Wright twisted a knee while running the bases in the first inning. Wright had pitched a complete-game 5-1 win over Hylton one day earlier, and has replaced injured starter Jamie Blackwell at shortstop. Blackwell has a sore arm and his return to the Bruins' lineup is still questionable.