Sterling Va. – On a night where all in the stands were shivering from the wind and rain, Dylan Webber did nothing but throw heat. He struck out 13 en route to a no-hitter that propelled the Dominion Titans to their 7th win of the season and first in Dulles District play as they took down the Loudoun County Raiders by a score of 2-0.

Webber was locked in throughout the game, with just three baserunners getting on throughout 7 innings, and none advancing past 2nd base. Webber said, about his approach, that he “wanted to go after the batters” and make them prove their skill as hitters.

He stressed the importance of his teammates, noting that he trusted his defense to make plays for him. Xavier Ruley did just that in the third inning. With a batter on second and both teams scoreless, County had a chance to strike first with their best batter, Mitch Gillin, at the plate. Gillin lofted a high fly ball that looked like it might land for extra bases and break the tie, but Ruley, the Titans’ centerfielder, made a spectacular catch on the run to save a run and the no-hitter.

It looked like Dominion would squander their ace’s accomplishments, as they were unable to score against County’s Donovan Burke, who shut them out through the first four innings before he began to falter.

The fifth inning was where Dominion finally broke through. After a groundout, Matthew Turk singled to right field and advanced to second on Burke’s wild pitch. After that, Ryan Bowman drew a walk. Turk then stole third base and advanced home on a wild pitch, ending Burks day. Another wild pitch scored Bowman, and those runs were all Dominion needed to take down the Raiders.

The lack of scoring output was less than ideal, but head coach Jeff Berg said that at the end of the day, “a win is a win, we’ll take this one and move on to the next game.”

Webber pitched the whole game, but he said that his high pitch count of 104 did not bother him. “Pitching late into games gives me a type of mojo, a drive to go longer,” he said.

The Titans’ record now sits at 7-1, giving them the 15^thspot in MaxPrep’s state rankings. They’ll continue their season against the Manassas Park Cougars on Tuesday night.

When asked about the importance of winning the first district game, Berg said, “It feels great. When you get a pitching performance like we did today, it makes the job much easier.”