Alexandria — The T.C. Williams baseball team on Wednesday night earned its first regional berth since 2009 by beating Lee 9-2 during the Patriot District quarterfinals at Simpson Field.
TC starting pitcher Alec Grosser allowed one hit in six innings. Scouts with radar guns were on hand to watch the senior right-hander, who earned the program’s biggest win in recent years. Grosser allowed two earned runs, hit one batter, walked three and struck out 10.
“It feels great,” said Grosser, who was in the eighth grade the last time TC qualified for regionals. “I’m happy we get at least two more baseball games. … I’ve never seen these guys go to regions, so it’s exciting.”
The only hit Grosser allowed was a two-run home run by Lee outfielder Mickey Stebick with two outs in the top of the third inning.
“I’m happy I pitched well through six,” Grosser said, “but I’m still [mad] about that one hit …”
Grosser is signed with George Mason University. There is a possibility the 6-foot-4 hurler will be selected in the Major League Baseball draft June 6-8. Grosser said he will wait until after the draft to make a decision about his future.
“He pitched great,” TC head coach Jim Blair said. “When he has that kind of stat line, it’s hard to say otherwise. Personally, I felt like he didn’t have his best stuff, per se, not to take anything away. With that being said, he was still tough to hit tonight for the Lee lineup, for sure.”
Grosser threw 97 pitches, 61 for strikes. He threw a first-pitch strike to 15 of 22 batters he faced.
Junior right-hander Noah Ray pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the Titans.
Offensively, TC managed just two hits, but the Titans capitalized on a plethora of Lee miscues. TC scored four runs in the second inning without the benefit of a hit, instead piecing together two walks, one hit-by-pitch and a sacrifice fly to go with multiple Lee errors.
The Titans’ first hit came in the bottom of the third, when sophomore first baseman Brandon Beck delivered an RBI double to left, giving TC a 7-2 lead.
Ray belted a solo home run over the center-field fence in the fifth inning for the Titans’ other hit.
Ray called the experiencing of clinching the program’s first region berth since 2009 “crazy.”
“We’re usually just underdogs,” he said. “It feels good. We’ve got to prove something.”
T.C. Williams, the No. 4 seed, will travel to face top-seed Lake Braddock in the Patriot District semifinals at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Blair said qualifying for regionals for the first time since 2009 is “huge” for the Titans.
“For a lot of them, they’ve been working at it now since September,” Blair said, “so to be rewarded for the work that they’ve put in, I think it gives them … an opportunity to see that when you do work hard in this game that you’ll get the positive results that you want. And … even though we’re young, we can still come out and play baseball. We can still compete with the top teams.”