Something exciting has been bubbling to the surface this season within Cumberland County High School’s varsity baseball program, but it just has not been resulting in big wins … until Tuesday.

Trailing 11-4 going into the bottom of the fifth inning against visiting Amelia County High School, the Dukes answered on the promise they have been showing this year by orchestrating a thrilling 12-11 come-from-behind victory.

“Really the key to the game was just continuously fighting after we played some of the worst defensive ball of the season,” Cumberland Head Coach Carter White said. “… We had been hitting the ball hard all game with only a few runs to show for it, and the team never doubted they could come back. They knew if we could just score a few runs in the fifth to make it a closer game that we were still right in it, and we did, making it 11-7 to end the fifth.”

He noted that the Dukes’ defense started to play well, holding the Raiders at 11 runs, opening a window of opportunity on the other side of the ball.

“And then the offense really ignited in the sixth when we were able to string together six hits and put up five runs to take the 12-11 lead.”

Senior Tristan Stinson was the offensive star of the game, according to White, who cited that Stinson hit his second and third home runs of the year during the game — two solo shots — and he was also able to reach base on a deep fly ball to center field that the fielder misplayed. All of these plays fired up the Dukes.

The coach said senior left fielder Braden Gilman went 3-for-4 at the plate, also reached on an error, had three RBIs and two runs scored.

“Senior Caleb Johnson had the biggest at-bat of the game with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, fouling off five or six tough pitches with a two-strike count to finally drive a ball up the middle to bring in the tying run,” White said.

Junior Jordan Smith was the winning pitcher, the coach noted, adding that he came on the mound in relief in the fifth inning, pitching two-and-a-third innings, allowing one hit, one walk and one strikeout.

“Coming into this Amelia game, we had dropped five consecutive conference games, and even though they were all close ballgames against the likes of Goochland and Randolph-Henry, we weren’t playing as well as we know we can,” White said. “For a few games we played great defense but couldn’t get more than four or five hits a game. The last couple of games we were able to hit the ball hard, but the defense began to falter. And even though the constant has been very strong pitching, we haven’t been able to play a complete game in order to win some of these close contests against pretty good ball teams.

“And with the way the game began yesterday,” the coach said Wednesday, “I was worried it could be a sort of crushing defeat for the boys, a culmination of all of our struggles thus far into the season. But they rose to the challenge, and the last three innings yesterday were the best three innings we have played all year.”

The Dukes improved to 3-5 overall now at the midpoint of the 2019 regular season, including a 2-5 mark in the James River District (JRD)

“Overall, I feel pretty good about our start to the season,” White said. “We are really only two or three hits and maybe one fewer error from being 6-3 or even 7-2, and I’m hopeful that as we see the JRD for a second time, we will be able to win a few more games and get our record well over .500.”

A variety of players have helped put Cumberland in position for a turnaround in the latter half of the season. The coach led that list with Stinson, whom he described as anchoring the Dukes both at the plate and on the mound.

“He is currently hitting .429 with three home runs, three doubles and a triple in 28 at-bats and has been a workhorse on the mound, throwing 25 of our 54 innings so far, racking up 36 strikeouts in that span,” White said. “Another senior leader, who is having both a stellar start to the season and is a really great leader for the team is our catcher, Cole Fillman. He has been unreal behind the plate, throwing out 16 would-be base stealers so far this season, including ending the Amelia game with a caught stealing. At the dish he has had a slower start than he probably would have hoped for regarding the hit totals, but he has been consistently able to get on base and currently has an on-base percentage at .483.”

The coach said his team’s real strength so far has been its pitching, something that has been able to keep it competitive in all of the games played this year.

“Along with Stinson, junior pitchers Jordan Smith and Jason Cooke have been able to throw really effective innings for the team, in both relief and starting,” White said.

After visiting Central Lunenburg High School on Thursday, Cumberland hosts Nottoway High School on Tuesday in a doubleheader starting at 4:30 p.m. The doubleheader will include two five-inning games.