Robinson Baseball Breaks Losing Streak With Shutout Against Washington-Lee

Lightning struck twice Wednesday night at Robinson Secondary School.

The first bolt of electricity came from the bat of Rams starting pitcher Denis Mikush, who was also batting in the cleanup spot against Washington-Lee. With Alex Torres on second base after a double to the fence in right field off Generals starter Brandon Wagstaff, Mikush launched a no-doubt homer over the fence in left to get Robinson off to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

It was the first time in two games the Rams had the lead after consecutive losses to Woodson and West Springfield. Robinson got down early in those games, so Mikush’s blast helped the home squad get back on track. It was all they would need, as Mikush and Connor Graber shut-out the Generals 6-0 to even the Rams’record at 2-2.

The junior hurler made sure his homer would stand up, as he retired the first eight batters he faced, only allowing a bloop single to Washington-Lee’s Justin Snow with two down in the third.

“I got down to what I usually do,” said Mikush, who said he felt calm after some opening-night jitters last week in the Rams’ 4-3 win over Annandale.

The powerful righty handcuffed the young Generals squad for five full innings, allowing just two hits while fanning seven and walking two. The only real jam he had to fight out of came with the Rams leading 5-0 in the fourth when he allowed a leadoff double to Austin Evans and surrendered a walk to Ben Coffman. Mikush kept the ball in the infield the rest of the inning and induced a ground ball to short from Michael Yuhas to end the threat.

On that play, the game became official, which was important as a drizzle started during the Rams’ at-bat in the bottom of the fifth. The game’s second lightning bolt resulted in a one-hour delay with one out and Torres at the plate.

After the umpires and coaches went out to inspect the field, the game was restarted, and the cold Generals, who had been sitting in the bus, were greeted by Graber, the Robinson closer. Graber pounded the strike zone under threatening skies, and retired the Generals in order, notching three strike outs and allowing just one ball out of the infield.

“Those guys are throwing pretty hard,” said Washington-Lee coach Doug Grove. “We have three sophomores in the lineup, and they’re just not used to seeing that type of pitching.”

Mikush said he and the Rams needed to get the win Wednesday to make sure their slide didn’t become a losing streak.

“It was important to win today, we didn’t want to go 1-3 and have the same story as last year,” he said. “We had a bad season – bad pitching early – but now, 2-2 isn’t bad to start off.”

If the Rams can get into a pitching groove and get consistent timely and sometimes-powerful hitting like they did on Wednesday, they should make some noise in the Concorde District. The team showed some pop and the ability to go the other way with runners on base: Jared Velasquez just missed his second homer of the year when his drive bounced off the top of the fence in the third; Torres scored twice and drove in a pair with a single while Joe Priftis and Michael Kann also notched RBI singles.

While it was a bit unusual to re-start a game after a lightning delay, Rams coach Jeff Farrell was glad to get the final two innings in. He was able to make some offensive changes and give Graber a couple of innings on the mound.

“We were able to get some good at-bats from some kids who are going to need to take good at-bats for us in a pinch-hitting role,” he said, looking toward the playoffs. “It was nice to get a win, no matter if you had to come in from a rain delay, it’s still a win.”

The Rams host Kettle Run on Saturday, travel to Falls Church to play George Mason on March 30 and then begin their district season with games against Chantilly, Westfield, Oakton and Herndon in April.