Jaycob Gross made his first career varsity start as pitcher for the Whiteoak Wildcats Monday against Williamsburg. (HCP Photo/Stephen Forsha)
Jaycob Gross made his first career varsity start as pitcher for the Whiteoak Wildcats Monday against Williamsburg. (HCP Photo/Stephen Forsha)
The Whiteoak Wildcats just couldn’t get the momentum on their side while at the plate on Monday night, as they fell to the visiting Williamsburg Wildcats by a 4-0 score.

Whiteoak looked like they were going to show patience at the plate, as they had the Williamsburg starter up to 50-plus pitches after two innings. Then things changed and the visitors heated up, as Williamsburg scattered their four runs in the latter half of the game.

“It is hard to win when you don’t score … in fact, it is impossible,” WHS head coach Chris Veidt said. “We started out where in the first two innings we had their guy at 51 pitches. We were being selective and we had a good plan, and a lot of that was I was giving the take sign because right off the bat he threw like seven balls in a row.

“For whatever reason, after that we decided we were going to play pepper and swing at everything that came our way, and one hit later it was 4-0, and a good start by Jaycob Gross was wasted. Our defense has been solid all year, but it would be a stretch to say it was solid today, but where you don’t score, you aren’t going to win.”

Williamsburg took the lead with a run in the top of the fourth, followed by one run in the sixth, and then added two final runs in the top of the seventh inning.

The first run of the game came after Williamsburg hit a one-out single, then took second on an errant throw. The run scored off a base hit with one out.

The second Williamsburg run scored on a passed ball with two outs in the sixth, and the two runs in the seventh inning came on an errant pick off attempt with one out and a passed ball, also with one out.

Whiteoak totaled one hit in the loss, as that came off the bat of Kaden Moon-Stone in the first inning. He was left in scoring position as he took second on a walk, and he stole third base as Whiteoak successfully had a double steal.

Whiteoak left three runners on the bases in the third as they had runners reach the bases on an error, walk and fielder’s choice. The fourth inning saw Whiteoak have a leadoff base runner via error, but three straight strikeouts left the runner stranded.

The final three innings saw the Wildcats of Whiteoak go three up, three down in each inning.

Gross was the starting pitcher for WHS, as he made his first career varsity start. Gross pitched six innings, allowing two earned runs on one hit and four walks.

“Jaycob was at 80 pitches after the sixth, and it was time to take him out,” Veidt said. “This was his first varsity start, and it was his first tine in a varsity game on that mound, and I thought he did great. He was a bright spot tonight, and our pitching has been fantastic to start the season.”