McDonogh baseball completes a perfect playoff run

by James Peters

The regular season couldn't have ended much worse for the McDonogh baseball team, but that's ok, because the playoffs couldn't have ended any better.

Entering the MIAA B Conference double elimination tournament on the heels of four straight losses, the Eagles swept all of their opponents, including finals opponent St. Paul’s, to capture the program’s second MIAA B championship in three years.

McDonogh capped its title run with a commanding 14-2, five-inning win against the Crusaders at Joe Cannon Stadium Sunday. The Eagles struck for seven combined runs in the first two innings and then exploded for seven more in the decisive fourth.

“We believed in what we were doing the whole year,” McDonogh coach Zach Rowe said. “We got healthy at the right time. That was big, but just believing in what we were doing as a program and didn't let the lulls of the record season get to us, and we were able to get ready in time.”

The Eagles (17-11 overall) started quickly in the first inning with run-scoring scoring singles by Michael Gorsky and Billy Moore. Leo Antwerpen added a ground rule double to right field.

On the mound, Antwerpen struck out six in a complete-game effort.

“The cushion was nice today,” said Antwerpen of his team’s early lead. “Fastball, cutter was working today. I didn't throw a change-up. I didn't have to.

“We thought we had it going into the playoffs. We got it back together.”

St. Paul’s starter Jackson Angulo-Bartlett worked out of further damage in the first by striking out J.A. Stephens with the bases loaded.

A run-scoring double to deep left field off the bat of Kobe Arrington trimmed that deficit to 3-1 in the top of the second. Arrington was then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Angulo-Bartlett and then scored on a groundout to short by Evan Gebhardt to move the Crusaders to within a run at 3-2.

McDonogh didn't take long to increase that lead as Andy Lambert tripled to left center field and then scored on a throwing error at the plate. Shortly thereafter, Chase Borz smacked a ground rule double to right field to plate two runs and Jake Maass drove in a run in a groundout to extend the Eagles' advantage to 7-2 after two innings of play.

“We practice every day for this moment, so it wasn't anything new,” said Lambert, who reached base three times and scored on all three occasions. “We put it on when it matters, and that's what we do best. Last year, we were on the other side and had to win two games, and we lost the first one, but Coach Rowe came in, stepped up our program and now we were in the driver’s seat.”

McDonogh pushed across seven runs in the fourth on a two-run single to left field by Maass following a walk to Antwerpen and a ground rule double by Moore to rudely greet Crusaders reliever Colten Krause. Joey Hortiz followed with a triple to left center field to bring home Maass for a 10-2 lead that grew to the final 12-run lead on multiple errors via bad throws or fielding woes.