Catonsville baseball rallies from early deficit to defeat Towson, 7-2, in regional championship game
Catonsville senior Tommy Bolster pitched five scoreless innings in relief and junior Logan Meiller drove in three runs to lead the Comets to a 7-2 victory over Towson in the Class 3A North Region I championship game.
The regional crown was the first for the Comets (14-5) since 2013 when they lost in the state championship. Towson finished with a 15-3 mark. Catonsville will play a state quarterfinal Friday against an opponent to be determined.
Bolster, the starting center fielder, came on in relief to start the bottom of the third inning with the Comets trailing 2-0. Towson’s runs came in the first inning after a lead off walk to Michael Perry and back-to-back doubles by Asher Grotzsky and Aziz Bishop off starter Matt Roseboom.
It was only the second time in three seasons Bolster entered the game without any warmups. That didn’t matter as he allowed one hit to the outfield and two infield hits, while walking two and striking out five.
“It was discussed and we had a guy ready, and I said I’m going to play it by ear and he said, ‘If you need me to come right in, I’ll come right in,'” Catonsville coach Eric Warm said. “He’s just an athlete and he loves baseball and he’s going to be mad that he can’t pitch in the next game.”
“The plan was to have Matt go through the lineup at least once and then I was going to come in depending on the situation,” Bolster said. “He told me to come in, no warmups, because I was up at the plate.”
Catonsville began its comeback with a run in the fourth after Adam Stephen reached on an infield single and later scored on an RBI single by Colin Hood.
The Comets took the lead for good in the top of the fifth with a pair of runs. Towson mistakes including a balk and dropped third strike set the table for Meiller to get the biggest hit of the day. His liner to right field just eluded the glove of Jake Dickensheets and plated both runners for a 3-2 lead.
“I’m just trying to score anybody. I’m just trying to do a little something to get a lot happening,” Meiller said. “I’m just trying to hit the ball and get the guys in. I knew it was dropping right in there in a perfect spot.”
Quint Friar came on in relief and he got out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts. During the inning, rain began and it got heavier in the top of the sixth when the Comets added four runs, aided by five walks, off two relievers, and an error.
“They responded better in the rain than we did,” Towson coach Shawn Tormey said. “They played well, they are a good team, they deserve to be regional champions.”
“This team has a lot of grit and we just grounded it out and that was it. We just pushed through and pushed through and every guy did a little bit and that’s really what got us over,” Warm said.
The Generals beat the Comets during the regular season, 6-3.
“We were winning the game the last time we played this team on this field, so we were mentally ready to come at these guys,” Warm said. “They are a well-coached team and they are a big, strong, good team, so it’s just a testament to these guys and how hard they are working. The shoe is on the other foot every now and then and it was our turn to be on the position side of that.”
Bolster retired six of the final eight batters to close out the game in a driving rain.
“I just knew, keep drying the ball, keep the ball dry and throw strikes,” Bolster said. “Our defense has had us all year, I knew I could rely on them to make the play. We’ve been thinking about this for the last three or four years.”
Warm had a good feeling about his club from the outset.
“All year, I’ve been telling these guys that they are the best team out here and we just needed to put it together and we’ve been putting it together toward the end of the season,” said the coach, whose squad has won six straight.
“We wanted it a lot, we’ve been battling every game and we definitely have the drive for it,” Meiller said.
Despite a 15-win season, Tormey struggled to think about the past success after the loss.
“It doesn’t feel that way now, the coaching staff said it, it still hurts, we’ve been doing this for a long time and it still hurts when the season’s over because you love your seniors and you know it’s over,” Tormey said.
Catonsville — 000 124 0 — 7
Towson — 200 000 0 — 2
WP: Cat — Tommy Bolster; LP: Tow — Grayson Kimball.
2B: Cat – Logan Meiller 1, Rory Reinhardt 1; Tow – Asher Grotsky 1, Aziz Bishop 1.