Woodbridge baseball rallies to beat Forest Park

Woodbridge’s baseball and softball complex was adorned with star-shaped balloons with a stars and stripes pattern.

Cars in the parking lot featured various military license plates and bumper stickers.

The Vikings wore their camouflage hats and jerseys and several current and former members of the armed services were in attendance for Woodbridge’s home game against Forest Park Wednesday, a contest that began the Vikings’ Armed Forces Week celebration.

John Paulson, a physics teacher at Woodbridge High School who served in the U.S. Navy, threw out the first pitch, toeing the pitching rubber like hurlers Jimmy Mehr of the Bruins and the Vikings’ Tyler Thomas would a few minutes later.

“I think this was fantastic,” said Paulson of the festivities. “They know I was in the military from my time here at Woodbridge.”

Paulson said he incorporates baseball to his lessons in class, particularly the pitching aspect.

After Paulson’s opening toss, the Bruins jumped out to an early lead against Thomas. The sophomore settled in after giving up a two-run, two-out home run to Jake DiMeglio in the first inning, allowing four hits over his final five and two-thirds before giving way to reliever Justin Petock.

Thomas threw 105 pitches on his way to recording every out but the final one in a 7-3 Viking win, narrowly missing his sixth complete game of the year. He struck out four hitters.

The win keeps Woodbridge (18-0, 10-0 Cardinal) in first place and a game ahead of Osbourn Park in the district race. The Yellow Jackets posted a 12-0, run-rule abbreviated win over Gar-Field Wednesday.

“I’ve been here for nine years,” said Woodbridge coach Jason Ritenour. “I’ve been here three years as an assistant and six as the head coach and we’ve never had a run like this.

“I try not to think about it too much,” he added. “We haven’t achieved anything at this point, but I know the players, they’re definitely excited. They’re doing something quite special.”

After falling behind on DiMeglio’s homer, the Vikings scored a run in their half of the first and took the lead for good on shortstop Kyle Toomey’s three-run shot in the third, his sixth of the year.

“First pitch he threw me a curveball and I just read the fastball and jumped on it,” said the Penn-bound Toomey. “This was a big game. We had the hype with all the military stuff. We were pumped to play in it.”

Leading 5-2 with two out in the fifth, Brandon Gum tacked on the final two runs for Woodbridge with a single up the middle, driving in Thomas and Nick Rogowski.

“Toomey’s home run obviously helped, but again, the big hit that gave us breathing room was Gum,” Ritenour said. “He’s done that a few times for us, coming up with big hits.”

“We knew we needed runs because they [the Bruins] can hit the ball,” the sophomore third baseman said. “I got down 0-2 and knew the fastball was coming and I hit it.”

The Bruins added a run in the seventh with a two-out single by Mehr that all but knocked Thomas out of the game.

Though Woodbridge is in a strong position to finish the season, Ritenour is cautiously optimistic about the last week, with games at Gar-Field Friday and the season finale against Osbourn Park.

“We still have two games left,” he said. “We could very easily, if everything goes wrong, we could easily lose [to Gar-Field and OP] and lose in the tournament and we’re 18-3 and done.”

Staff writer Joe Conroy may be reached at 703-530-3912.