St. Mary's downs McDonogh for 2024 MIAA B Conference baseball championship
Pitcher Nick Hulme overcomes a rough start to the Saints to their first title since 2015
by James Peters
St. Mary’s right-handed pitcher Nick Hulme was like fine wine during Sunday’s MIAA B Conference final at Joe Cannon Stadium; the longer he was on the mound, the better he got, much to the chagrin of his opponent, defending champion McDonogh.
After surrendering two runs on three hits and an error in the first two innings, Hulme, the game’s Most Valuable Player, held the Eagles scoreless with six strikeouts over the next four-plus innings to help guide St. Mary’s to a 7-3 victory and the program’s first league crown since 2015.
“All year, the first two innings have been my toughest innings, and then I get into a groove,” said Hulme, who finished with eight strikeouts for the game. “Fastball command and then working that breaking ball when I have to and just trust in my defense.”
Hulme, who was handed a 5-2 lead following a four-run, second-inning rally by the Saints (21-4), worked the first 6 ⅔ innings of the contest before handing the ball to closer Parker Weekley with two on and two out. Weekley allowed an inherited runner to score on a bases-loaded walk before recording the final out in what turned into a little scarier-than-expected seventh inning after Hulme recorded two straight outs to open the inning.
St. Mary's pitcher Nick Hulme overcame a rough start to work 6-2/3 innings and lead the Saints to a 7-3 victory McDonogh, to close out the MIAA B Conference Baseball Tournament and clinch the league championship for St. Mary's. (Photo by James Peters)
“I wanted to (finish the game) but me and the closer (Weekley) talked about it last game, and he said he wanted it,” Hulme said. “If he has to finish it, it’s all right with me. This is awesome. Great feeling.”
The two squads traded a run each in the first inning on an infield error that scored McDonough’s Andy Lambert in the top half and then a run-scoring single to right field off the bat of Hulme to score Harrison DeLoach, who reached base on an error, took second on a groundout and third on a wild pitch, in the bottom half.
Joey Hortiz gave the lead right back to the Eagles (14-9) in the second as he singled to shallow right field and then scored on the relay throw to second base that sailed over the infield and reached the bullpen area in the left field foul territory to allow Hortiz to score on the play. Chase Borz and Lambert followed with a double and intentional walk, respectively, before Hulme worked a flyout to center by Austin McNair.
The contest then swung in the favor of the Saints, who erupted for four runs to take a 5-2 lead they would never relinquish. The lefty-swinging Ben Bonfiglio started that rally with a single to right field to bring home Teagan McDonough to tie the score. The Saints then took their first lead on a two-run double on a punishing line drive by Henry Carbone to center field. Carbone reached third on the play and scored on a single to left center field by DeLoach for the three-run advantage.
“I was just trying to do my job,” Bonfiglio said. “We had runners on first and third. I had guys do their job and get on base. I was just trying to keep it simple and execute. I got lucky. I think we’ve got a really old team. We’ve got a lot of seniors. I think we all stepped up. We took a deep breath, stepped back, and we realized that it’s baseball and went out and had fun.”
St. Mary’s padded that lead to five runs at 7-2 on a single, walk, wild pitch, hit batsman, and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Bonfiglio in the bottom of the fifth to essentially put the contest away although the Eagles made things interesting in the seventh with seven batters coming to the plate before Leo Antwerpen flew out to shallow left field to end the contest.
“Errors did us in,” said McDonogh coach Matt Tuneski, whose squad lost three straight decisions to St. Mary’s after an 8-3 win in the first meeting way back on March 21.
“I thought our freshman Jack (Hortiz) did a great job on kind of a short leash. I thought he gave us a chance to win. Unfortunately, we didn’t make some plays we usually make. Our emotions were running so high (and) it seemed like that one inning they scored four, that was kind of the difference.
“Nick, he got ahead in counts and he pounded the zone. He trusted his guys to make plays, and they made most of the plays. They executed their plan.”