Spalding baseball opens MIAA A semifinals series with a 12-0 win over Loyola Blakefield
Archbishop Spalding baseball has a way of deflating opponents — and it can happen in a hurry.
In Monday’s opening game of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference semifinal series against visiting Loyola Blakefield, the No. 1 Cavaliers got two big innings of offense and a dominant pitching performance from ace Jake Yeager en route to a 12-0 win over the No. 8 Dons in a game that ended after five innings because of the mercy rule.
The best-of-three series heads to Loyola Tuesday for the second game with the first pitch set for 4 p.m.
The Cavaliers (24-4) sent 11 batters to the plate in a five-run second inning against Dons’ ace Joe Nottingham, who recorded a 1-2-3 first inning. The Cavaliers’ second featured a two-run single from Carver Salazar, a run-scoring double by Cruz Luna and a well-executed safety squeeze from Sam Houchens to score another. With Yeager in complete control — he allowed one hit and struck out 10 in five innings — the Cavaliers batted around a second time in a seven-run fourth inning.
“We did a lot of different things today to put pressure on them,” Spalding coach Joe Palumbo said. “[At times this season,] we’ve been able to get on top of teams, but we haven’t been able to always knock them out. Today, we kind of showed a killer instinct that you need in the playoffs to finish as a champion.”
With Yeager and Nottingham taking the ball for their respective teams, that anticipation was a tightly contested playoff opener. It looked that way — for one inning.
The Dons got their only hit in the first when Colby Shilling hit a sharp one-out single and then Ryan Clary drew a two-out walk before Yeager got Jake Hauk looking at a third strike to end the inning. Nottingham did his part with a 1-2-3 bottom of the first with two strikeouts. After Yeager struck out the side in the top of the second, the Cavaliers put a premium on each at-bat.
Theo Coughlin, who went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored and another batted in, led off with a single up the middle. Drew Emrich was hit by a pitch and then Jack McNally walked to load the bases. Carson Merritt sent a ball up the middle that shortstop Shilling got a glove on but couldn’t get an out to score Coughlin with the game’s first run. Salazar drove in the next two, Houchens laid down the bunt and Luna hit the double for the 5-0 advantage.
It was plenty for Yeager, who kept the Dons guessing with a nasty mix of his fastball, curveball and slider.
“My stuff was just working today,” he said. “Adrenaline was a big part of it. I kind of just went out there trusting my defense, throwing the ball, not really thinking too much, and that was my goal. You just feel like your body is in control, you don’t have to think too much. I love that feeling — it’s like a flow state.”
Palumbo was appreciative of the timely performance.
“Jake brought his A game in a big moment and that was awesome to see,” he said. “He’s had a lot of pressure on him all year long and I think that’s prepared him for this outing and hopefully he’ll get one more in a big-time situation for his team.”
Merritt scored two runs and drove in two with a single in the fourth. Emrich also scored twice and drove in one with a single.
The Dons (12-10) will look to bounce back Tuesday to force a deciding third game that would take place on Thursday at Spalding. Dons coach Mike Kelly tipped his cap to Yeager and kept the message to his team simple as they look to bounce back on Tuesday.
“Just be ready. We teach a lot of life lessons and one of them for tomorrow is it could be our last game and you may never be with this group of guys again,” he said. “So you have to really respect that and go out there and play hard for everybody.”
The winner takes on the winner of the Calvert Hall-Archbishop Curley semifinals series in a best-of-three championship series that begins Saturday. Calvert Hall opened that series Monday with a 12-2 home win.
LB — 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 1 2
AS — 0 5 0 7 x — 12 6 0
WP: Yeager
LP: Nottingham
2B: AS — Luna, Loughlin