by Derek Toney
See video below
Mount
Hebron High baseball coach Brian Culley said he’s been waiting for his
offense to catch up with the Vikings pitching. For most of Wednesday
afternoon’s Howard County league contest with Oakland Mills, Mount
Hebron’s bats were AWOL.
But the Vikings’ offense showed up when
it counted. The Ellicott City school scored three times in the bottom
of the sixth inning to post a 3-2 decision, handing the Scorpions their
first setback of the spring.
Brad Wandell’s pinch-hit two-run
single was the decisive play for the Vikings (6-2 overall, 4-1 in
Howard County), who will play defending county champ Centennial
Thursday afternoon. Wandell, a senior, said Mount Hebron has been
resilient in the early season.
“I didn’t start but I stayed
loose and made sure I was ready. I came through when I had to,” said
Wandell. “We don’t give up. We’ve been down in the late innings a lot
of times and we’ve found a way to come back.”
Oakland Mills
mounted a rally in the seventh, pulling to 3-2 in the seventh, but
junior Brandon Mothershead closed out the game for winning pitcher
Patrick McNamara, who allowed two runs on five hits in six innings.
McNamara, a junior, along senior Robbie Mend and Mothershead has formed
a solid pitching core for Mount Hebron.
“The one thing we’ve
been able to do all season is pitch the baseball,” said Culley, in his
second season. “That’s given us a chance to win, and even though our
bats haven’t come around, they’re coming.”
The Vikings were
rendered helpless against Oakland Mills’ righty Jeff Randolph, who
struck out 10 in five innings, but came to life in the sixth against
reliever Josh Yarn. Kyle Melan led off with a walk, and Matt Schmauder
was hit by a pitch.
Facing a 0-2 count, Medoff, playing first
Wednesday, singled to left to score Melan. A wild pitch advanced Medoff
and Schmauder to second and third, respectively. With one out, Wandell
singled to center putting Mount Hebron ahead for good.
Bryson
Cramer led off the seventh with a double for Oakland Mills (5-1, 5-1),
and scored on a sac fly by Ricky Kersey. Mothershead struck out
Randolph on a 3-2 count to knock off the Scorpions from the unbeaten
ranks.
“We just didn’t get our timely hitting,” said Oakland
Mills coach Rod Clifford, whose team got a run-scoring single from
Brian Widmayer in the third. “We left a lot of guys on base today,
we’ve been getting some really timely hitting. McNamara kept us off
balanced.”
The Scorpions and Vikings each have full schedule
over the next week as the county race heats up. Oakland Mills has
Hammond Thursday and Glenelg Friday while Mount Hebron plays Howard
Friday, followed with three games next week.
“We’re going to
find out really quickly who is or who isn’t good,” said Culley. “I
would like to think we’ll be there in the long run.”
Mount Hebron 3, Oakland Mills 2
Oakland Mills 000 000 1-2 5 1
Mount Hebron 000 003 x-3 4 0
Randolph, Josh Yarn (6) and Suggs; McNamara, Mothershead (7) and Schmauder. 2B: Oakland Mills-Windmayer, Cramer.
Processing your request, Please wait....
