Prep Baseball Report

1A State Championship Game is Set


Jerry Shank
Maryland Director

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The St. Michaels Saints and Boonsoboro Warriors are set to face off yet again to decide the MPSSAA 1A championship after two dominating performances on Wednesday evening at McCurdy field in Frederick, Maryland.

Game 1 of the day saw the Saints, the 1A East Champion square off with 1A South champion McDonough HS. St. Michaels struck first and never took their foot off the gas in a 12-2 victory that ended after six inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.

The Saints struck early and often in this game, getting two runs in the top of the first inning against McDonough. Jock Luthy knocked the first run of the game in with an RBI double to left field putting runners at second and third. Josh Risher would score another run on an RBI single to put the Saints up 2-0 early.

McDonough leadoff hitter Tyler Drummond would lead the Rams bat off with a double to right center that was taken away as Drummond tripped going around first apparently missing the bag. The Saints appealed and he was called out. McDonough would get two runners on, but the inning ended after a backpick got the trailing runner at first to end the inning.

St. Michaels kept the pressure on quickly getting a runner to third and scoring on a 1-out single from Brodie Steen to give them a 3-0 lead. The Saints would end up loading the bases and get three more runs in the inning to take a 6-0 lead. That seemed to steal all the momentum of the game as the Saints would continue to cruise.

Saints starter Nick Newnam shut the Rams offense down for four innings, bending, but never breaking and getting the Saints out of a few jams. All the while the Saints offense continued to roll as they only had one inning where they did not put up a run, and came up with numerous big hits in key situations when McDonough needed a stop. Three runs off two-out hits led to a 9-0 lead before McDonough would respond in the fifth inning scoring two of their own.. The Saints would add three more runs with two out in the top of the sixth to make the score 12-2 and the Saints would cruise in the bottom of the frame to get the victory.

Newnam went 5-for-5 at the plate with a triple and four singles to lead St. Michaels.

Boonsboro cruised as well in their semifinal matchup plating 13 runs in five innings to take down 1A North Champion Sparrows Point 13-0. They did not score until the second inning, when they would score two off of RBI's from Josh Derocher and TJ Kalagher and make the score 2-0.

After a scoreless third, Boonsboro would explode for seven runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 9-0 lead. RBI's came from Ryan Nolan, Peyton Mason, Derocher, and two more from Kalagher in the frame. They would add four more runs in the top of the fifth to take a 13-0 lead which would be the final after the bottom of the inning.

The offensive output was dominant by the Warriors. 8 of the nine starters had hits and seven of the nine had RBI's in the game. Nolan led the way, going 3-for-3 with an RBI. Kalagher had three RBI on one hit, while Cole Rinehart, Ben Burgan, and Mason each added two hits and an RBI apiece. The Boonsboro offense was very effective, putting together quality at bat after quality at bat in the game to wear down a talented Sparrows Point team.

Adam Mathias and Brock Smith combined for the shutout in the win, scattering two hits in the game while striking out ten.

This will be a rematch of last years championship game that Boonsboro have likely been hoping to get another chance at. St. Michaels used two big innings to run away with a 12-1 victory in a matchup that returns a lot of players from both sides. If St. Michaels can pull off the victory, it will put them in sole possession of second place in all time MPSSAA baseball championships with six. Boonsboro will be looking for their third championship in school history and first since 2002.