It was the bottom of the fourth inning Monday night, and Troy Muse was dancing off second base. 

The Warrenton Post 122 Senior drew a walk and advanced to second, where he began to make life hell for the New Haven defense.

With his team leading 4-0, Muse had more freedom than normal, and he took advantage.

He baited New Haven’s starting pitcher into a balk and advanced to third.

Earlier in the game, Muse stole third before the ball crossed home plate.

“That’s the second time this year he’s just taken off without the pitcher noticing,” Warrenton 122 AAA Manager Scott Butler said after his team’s 4-1 win. “He picks the right time when he can take that base, and he’s 2-for-2 doing it. He does his antics on the basepaths, and tonight was the second time he’s caused a balk.”

Muse led off Monday’s game with a walk and reached base three times in five plate appearances.

He is second on the team with a .581 on-base percentage, and leads the team with 15 stolen bases.

“At some point it may hurt us, but until then we’re going to live with it because it’s high risk, high reward,” Butler said of Muse’s aggressiveness on the basepaths. “He’s a baller. When it comes to playing baseball, he knows when to do it and when not to do it.” 

Monday night, it was James Dotson’s turn to drive Muse in.

“That’s what they do,” Butler said of the heart of the lineup. “Dotson has a ton of RBIs and you’re always confident in (Hunter) Capstick when he has a bat in his hands. And it’s nice when Troy and Hunter (Russell) can get on base in front of them, and they get on base quite a bit.”

Russell, Dotson and Capstick helped give Post 122 a 2-0 first-inning lead Monday, and Muse drove in Devon Oden with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second.

Capstick collected his second hit of the night in the second inning to score No. 9 hitter Tyler Brittain.

“It’s a good lineup, it’s really loaded,” Butler said. “Devon and Chris (Vogt) are both hitting above .300, and I really like having Tyler in the No. 9 spot because he can do so much for us. He can sacrifice runners over, he’ll wear a pitch like he did tonight and he can bunt for a hit. It’s nice to have a second leadoff guy like that.”

The four early runs would be all Post 122 needed, thanks to a six-inning, zero-run performance from starting pitcher Austin Nicolas.

The win inched Post 122 closer to a District 9 playoff spot, which it could clinch Thursday against Pacific.

“My biggest worry after that long break was finding our momentum again,” Butler said. “You’re hoping you don’t lose that, but it was nice for Nicolas to come out here and pitch well. Getting four runs in the first two innings was huge. We had more opportunities to score, that’s for sure. This team was 6-1 in district, so you can’t take them too lightly.”

Brittain, Capstick and Russell each collected two hits on the evening.

Shortstop Chase Jones, who struggled at the plate and finished 0-for-4, was happy to see his teammates pick up  the slack.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that can pick you up,” he said. “You don’t always have to perform at the plate for the team to score runs. You just want to make sure you play your defense.”

Butler applauded his offense’s versatility, and doesn’t want his player’s to change their aggressive mindset going forward.

“When you have speed like we do, you need to let them run wild,” he said. “They’re mustangs, so let them go. I just hope they’re smart enough to know when to do it, and so far they have been.”