After tweaking his back toward the end of last year, Warhill junior Blake Otey was looking forward to playing a key role in the Lions’ pitching rotation this season.
Instead, the injury resurfaced a few months ago and forced Otey to spend a portion of this season on the shelf.
Otey says his back is feeling much later of late, and the junior has spent the past week making up for lost time.
After pitching four strong innings in relief against New Kent last weekend to help Warhill win its first-ever Bay Rivers District championship, Otey helped the Lions capture their first Region I title Friday by combining with staff ace Michael Brumfield to throw a two-hitter against Culpeper in an 11-0 rout of the visiting Blue Devils.
Brumfield tossed the first three innings Friday – in order to keep him eligible to go the distance in next Tuesday’s state-tournament opener against Woodgrove – before handing the ball over to Otey.
Otey was in full command over the final four innings, surrendering a single hit while striking out nine of the 14 batters he faced. Otey got better as the game progressed, too, as he closed out the final two innings by striking out the side.
“My back felt awesome,” Otey said after the game. “All my pitches were working; I just felt great.”
Added Warhill coach Joe Henzel, “[Otey] is legit. He showed it in the district championship game and showed it here tonight. He knows for us to make a deep run we have to have more than two arms.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in him and the team does, too.”
After Brumfield breezed through the first three innings yielding one hit while striking out five, the Lions broke the game open in the bottom of the third.
Clay Frost and Luke Patterson reached on back-to-back infield singles and then scored on Pat Daly’s base hit to right that rolled through the legs of Culpeper right fielder Zack Crim. Daly advanced all the way to third on the error and scored on Hunter Hux’s double to left-center field – the Lions’ fourth-consecutive hit to start the inning – to put Warhill ahead 3-0.
After a Blake Wills walk put runners on the corners, Jordan Hackney drove in Hux and Wills’ courtesy runner Hayden Johnson with a shot to the gap in right-center to pad the Lions’ lead, 5-0. Hackney nearly scored Warhill’s sixth run of the inning on Tyler Klinedinst’s single to left, but Hackney was thrown out at home plate by Culpeper’s Jermaine Butler in left field to end the inning.
The five-run frame was more than enough insurance for Otey, although Warhill would continue to pad its lead as shaky pitching and defense continued to plague Culpeper.
After walking Wills and allowing a bunt single to Thomas Richardson in the bottom of the fifth, both runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. Johnson – running for Wills – would later score on another passed ball before Brumfield plated Richardson with a ground ball to short that stretched the Lions’ lead to 7-0.
Culpeper pitcher Michael Lafin fell completely apart in the sixth after retiring Warhill’s first two batters of the inning.
Lafin walked Hux, Wills and Richardson consecutively to load the bases before plunking Hackney and Brumfield back-to-back, which allowed Hux and Johnson to trot home easily as the Lions’ lead grew to 9-0.
The Blue Devils then turned to Tyler Wilson to stop the bleeding, but he issued two more free passes with the bases loaded to Tyler Klinedinst and Frost before getting the final out of the inning.
As the Lions celebrated with their Region I championship trophy afterward, Henzel said to his players, “the next time we take a photo, we’ll be state champions.”
With the emergence of Wills (6-1, 0.43 ERA) and Otey backing up the always-reliable Brumfield at the top of the rotation, the Lions’ chances appear better than ever.
Warhill 11 Culpeper 0
Culpeper- 000;000;0 – 0 2 3
Warhill- 005;024;x – 11 8 1
WP: Otey
LP: Ferrell
Culpeper (19-6)- Anderson 1-3 (2B), Lytle-Fisher 1-1 (BB)
Warhill (20-4)- Patterson 2-5 (run, SB), Hux 1-2 (2B, SB, 3 runs), Hackney 1-2 (run, 3 RBI)
