WARRENTON, VA-- It wasn’t easy, but the Vienna Senators found a way to win in a 2-1 victory over the Fauquier Gators Saturday night at Fauquier High School.  The Senators did not play their best baseball, but they showed the heart of a champion by getting themselves out of several sticky situations late in the game without giving up the lead.  The Gators had their opportunities to take the lead, but in each instance, the Senators slammed the door before any damage was done.  The aspect of this year's Senators team that any fan can enjoy is that they refuse to lose ball games.  After losing two out of the first four games, the Senators have ripped off eight straight wins and have looked impressive in doing so.

            The Senators scored first in the fourth inning when Kevin Hansen drove in Matt Lesyk with an RBI single to make the score 1-0.  Lesyk had reached earlier in the inning when he hit a scorching line drive up the middle to reach base and was moved to third on a Justin Bunkis single. 

            Fauquier tied the game in the sixth inning when Chris Leenderste singled in Ricky Owens to make the score 1-1.

            The Senators regained the lead in the seventh inning when Guillermo Martinez tripled down the right field line to start the inning and scored two batters later when AJ Lamonda singled into left field.  Martinez’s run made the score 2-1.

            The Senators showed their championship form in the last three innings when found themselves in situations where it could have been easy to give a up a run or two, but the Senators refused to give up the lead.  In the seventh, the Gators had a man on second with no outs and pitcher CJ Thornton managed to get the next three Gator hitters out to end the threat. 

            In the eighth inning, the Gators had men on second and third with only one out and the Senator coaching staff decided to walk Gator hitter Robert Bittner intentionally to load the bases.  The move proved effective when new pitcher Mark Dutmers retired the next two hitters to end the inning.  The Senator coaching staff has been pulling all the right strings this season, and Saturday night proved no different. 

            In the ninth, the Gators mounted another rally when they had men on first and second with one out.  Ricky Owens singled to advance the runners, but Gator base runner Tim Brown, who was on second, overran third base when he realized that he wasn’t going to make it home and tried to get back to third.  Senator left fielder Will Bussey made a heads up play by throwing the ball to third when he saw Brown overrun the bag and third baseman Kevin Hansen was able to tag out Brown to record the second out.  Dutmers struck out the last Gator hitter to end the game.

            Caleb Barton got the win for the Senators with a gutty performance.  Barton was hit with a broken bat early in the game, but he came back and broke the Gators backs for the rest of the evening.  Bunkis finished with two hits for the Senators while Lamonda and Hansen collected the RBIs.  The Senators travel to Herndon to take on the Fairfax Nationals on Tuesday night to try and win their ninth straight game.  The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.