All-Star caliber

By Shane Mettlen

Published: July 7, 2008

The Culpeper A&N Junior Baseball All-Stars put themselves a game away from a trip to the state tournament Monday night with a 14-4 victory against Louisa in five innings at the Culpeper Recreation Complex.

Jeremiah Yates pitched 4 1/3 innings to pick up the win and led Culpeper at the plate, going 3 for 4 with four RBI and four runs scored. Culpeper will play Louisa again tonight on the road for the District 14 championship.

“Jeremiah Yates through an amazing game,” Culpeper manager Andrew Pittman said. “He struggled a bit earlier on, but he missed our first two weeks of practice with a hand injury, so for him to out and pitch and hit the ball the way he did was phenomenal.”

Culpeper and Louisa were tied at 2 heading into the bottom of the second, but the home team was able to break the game open with five runs in the bottom of the inning. Carl Lacy, who went 2 for 2 and scored twice, drove in a run with a single to right and Yates followed that up with a two-RBI double.

“A lot of these kids are playing together for the first time,” Pittman said. “The way they’ve come together as a team is very impressive. We had guys laying down bunts and guys sacrificing themselves for the team.”

Culpeper added four more runs in the third with Yates and Ben Pittman each recording RBI. Pittman finished the game 4 for 4 with a run and two RBI.

The sky opened up and a short rain storm delayed the game for about a half an hour, but Culpeper picked up where it left off, shutting down Louisa in the fourth and fifth before adding a three runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.

Now the Culpeper All-Stars are focusing on beating Louisa one more time.

“If we win that one we’ll be District 14 champs and go on to states,” Matthew Pittman said.

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or