By Tommy Keeler Jr. -- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WINCHESTER -- James Wood did everything it needed to in the seventh inning on Thursday night.

Trailing by six runs, the Colonels had come back and pulled within one, and with the bases loaded, they had the player at the plate that they wanted.

Junior Cody Vourous had started the rally with a two-run homer and a base hit would have capped it off and sent James Wood into first place in the Northwestern District. Unfortunately for the Colonels, Vourous was unable to come through, striking out to end the game, an 8-7 loss to Brentsville.

"I just didn't stay disciplined," Vourous said. "On the second pitch I shouldn't have swung at it. It's definitely a learning experience."

The whole game could be looked at as a learning experience for the Colonels, in a game that was a roller-coaster of emotions for both teams. James Wood appeared to be in trouble as it entered the bottom of the seventh trailing 8-2.

Brentsville starter Austin Hale had allowed only four hits in the first six innings, but wasn't as sharp in the seventh. Matt Copley reached on an error and Vourous stepped up and drilled a pitcher over the centerfield wall for his fourth homer of the season to cut the score to 8-4.

"I just went up there and I knew I had to hit the ball," said Vourous, who hit three homers in one game earlier this year. "This is the first year I've been able to hit home runs. I've just tried to focus more. I just tried to stay relaxed."

Travis Viands singled and, one out later, Danny Cooper followed with a single to chase Hale from the game. Brentsville sophomore Ryan Douglas came on in relief and struggled from the start. Hunter Leight hit an RBI single and Brock Lockhart and Dustin Russell drew back-to-back walks to cut the lead to 8-6. Brandon Sinecoff hit into a fielder's choice, scoring Leight to cut the lead to 8-7. Copley then drew another walk to again load the bases for Vourous.

Hale, who was moved to right field, was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as Vourous went down swinging.

"My heart was pounding," Hale said. "I knew he would get it done. He just had to throw strikes."

The Tigers (13-4, 11-2 Northwestern) led 3-2 entering the seventh, but the wheels came off as Brentsville scored five times with some help from James Wood miscues. Zack Stronko doubled with one out off James Wood reliever Cooper Franks. One out later, James Wood coach Jared Mounts elected to intentionally walk cleanup hitter Hayden Gilmer, who had already had an RBI single earlier in the game. A wild pitch scored Stronko before Brentsville's Justin Weaver, who had been hit by a pitch twice and struck out once, then hit a two-run homer over the rightfield fence to give the Tigers an 6-2 lead.

"We figured the guy was hitting in the four-hole for a reason," Mounts said. "It's one of those things where we just decided to roll the dice and it didn't work out."

Russell relieved Franks and things went from bad to worse. Brentsville's Brian Worley was hit by a pitch and scored on an RBI single from Douglas. A passed ball and an error led to another run giving the Tigers an 8-2 lead.

"You have to have a short-term memory in baseball," Mounts said. "We let one mistake lead to another mistake. That's something we need to work on."

The Colonels (11-4, 10-3) also let a golden opportunity to score slip away in the third inning. Trailing 2-0, Vourous led off with a single and moved to second on a sac bunt by Viands. Tim Spore followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Cooper doubled to score Vourous, but Spore stayed on third. Cooper thought he was being signaled to go to third and was tagged out in a rundown, while Spore took off for home, but was thrown out at the plate for an inning-ending double-play.

"One of the great things about our team is no one points fingers," Cooper said. "I'll take the blame on that one. [Assistant] coach [Adrian] Pullen said it was his fault and if you ask Timmy he'd say it was his fault. I thought coach Pullen was waving me to come to third, when he was actually waving for Tim to go home. He was giving me the stop sign, but Tim thought he was telling him to stay at third.

"You just have to put this one in the tough loss category. They played well and they have a good team."