No. 1 Colonel Richardson Claims Bayside Conference Championship

This year’s Bayside Conference Championship held at Perdue Stadium in Salisbury featured the undefeated North Division an No. 1 ranked team in the state Colonel Richardson Colonels and the South Division Champion Mardela Warriors. Baserunners came at a premium Tuesday night as both teams really struggled to get it going offensively. That was due in large part to both starting pitchers having incredible performances that gave their respective team's a chance win until the final out.

Mardela’s Ethan Peterman took the mound to start the game and went right to work, retiring the side in order in the top of the first. Peterman wasn’t overpowering hitters but was crafty with his location and off-speed which kept hitters off-balanced for most of the game. He was able to keep the ball down in the zone resulting in a constant flow of weak ground outs.

Jamison Covey (Harford CC) was equally as impressive for Colonel Richardson striking out two in the first with his breaking ball which set him up nicely for the rest of the game to have success with his fastball. Mardela hitters had trouble with his velocity and Covey used that advantage to get ahead often in counts.

The first scoring opportunity of the game for either side came in the top of the second, when Chad Willoughby and Ryan Stanton reached on errors with two men down for Colonel Richardson. However, the chance to get on the board first was short-lived as Peterman struck out the next batter on three straight pitches.

Fast forward to the top of the third and Colonel Richardson was threatening again. This time with runners on the corners and only one out. Remington Mangum took off from first and after successfully swiping the bag, the ball got by the shortstop. Mardela second baseman Jaden Shelton was in perfect backup position to catch the ball; and threw a perfect strike to home plate to get the runner trying to score from third. The scoring opportunities thereafter pretty much came to a halt as Peterman and Covey continued to dominate.

The Colonels would finally break through in the top of the sixth as Jackie Zebron reached base on a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning. Following a stolen base and passed ball, Zebron found himself standing ninety feet away from home. After a groundout with the infield drawn in, Zebron scored the eventual game-winning run on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze by Nathan Roth.

Mardela threatened one last time in the bottom of the seventh when Jacob Long doubled to left with one away but Covey turned it up one more notch and struck out the final two batters of the game to preserve the 1-0 win.

Covey struck out eight in his seven innings of work allowing just three hits and one walk. Peterman came out after six and two-thirds giving up just the one run on four hits and one walk, while striking out five.

After falling to Snow Hill 4-1 in last year’s Bayside Conference Championship game, Colonel Richardson claims its fourth title in school history and first since 2015 when they defeated Stephen Decatur (also in a 1-0 ballgame).