James M. Bennett Pulls Away Late Defeating No. 16 Atholton for the 3A East Region Title

The best two teams in the 3A East Region faced off Friday with a trip to the State Semifinals on the line. Two power righties opposed one another as James M. Bennett sent Aaron Combs to the hill while Atholton countered with Benji Thalheimer.

Atholton struck first in the bottom half of the opening frame as Tony Puciloski singled home Carson Collier for the 1-0 lead. The Raiders would strand a runner at third as Combs struck out Mikey Burton to end the threat and limit the damage.

After retiring the side in order in the second and getting two quick outs to start the third, Thalheimer got himself in trouble hitting Garrett Southern and Paul Oscar. With two on and two out, Max Taylor singled back up the middle scoring Southern to tie the game. Oscar advanced to third on the throw to the plate and then scored as the Clippers executed a 1st and 3rd play where Oscar took off from first and remained in a rundown just long enough for Taylor to score.

Combs settled in after the first retiring the side in order in both the second and third further swinging the momentum over to the Clippers side. The score would remain 2-1 until the fifth when Bennett plated their third run of the ballgame on another first and third play. Oscar reached base on a throwing error and advanced to second on an infield single by Ryan Mitchell. Two pitches later Oscar stole third on a pitch that bounced in the dirt and later scored on a perfectly executed first and third early break play.

Bennett would add three more in the seventh inning just for good measure as Oscar singled to center to start the two-out rally once again. Taylor and Mitchell both walked to load the bases and senior Brett Swift picked up an RBI walking on four pitches to make it 4-1.  The final two runs came on a hard hit ground ball by Anders Brown that was mis-played at second base.

In the end, Atholton out-hit Bennett five to three but Combs navigated his way out of every jam he faced allowing just the one run in the first while striking out seven in the process. Oscar finished 1-for-2 on the day scoring three runs for the Clippers in route to the 6-1 win. 

The 3A East Champions will now head to Joe Cannon Stadium on Tuesday to face the defending 3A State Champion Thomas Johnson Patriots from Frederick County. This is Bennett’s first trip back to States since 2011 and 2012 when they won back-to-back titles.