After recovering from pre-season surgery, Lansdowne High sophomore catcher Austin Tucker played outstanding defense all season.
But, it was in the Vikings' 9-8 loss to Eastern Tech in the final game of the season — the Class 2A North Region championship game — where he made a lasting final impression with his glove and his bat.
It earned him a spot on the 2015 Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches (MSABC) Team Maryland Futures South Region roster.
He will play against the East Region squad on Monday, June 29 at 5 p.m. at Prince Georges Stadium, home of the Bowie Baysox, the Baltimore Orioles Double-A minor league affiliate.
The North squad, which includes Catonsville High juniors Danny Terzi and Nick Grace, plays the West at 8 p.m.
Tucker was one of 25 total sophomores selected for the four teams, which also includes 78 juniors.
The juniors underwent tryouts for the game while the sophomores were selected based on their play during the season.
MSABC President Ty Whittaker, an Eastern Tech assistant coach who is involved in selecting the team, was impressed with the sophomore in the regional title game.
"I told him Austin was a sophomore and his response was, 'Wow,'" Lansdowne High coach Matt Kohel said. "His play in that game led him to be selected by Ty to that tournament."
In addition to throwing out a would-be base stealer and blocking everything behind the plate in that game, Tucker nearly was the hero when his two-run single to right center field gave the Vikings an 8-6 lead in the top of the seventh.
Eastern Tech stole his spotlight when they scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Tucker is the second Lansdowne player selected to the play in the Futures game and the first sophomore.
Lansdowne junior Sam Warfield, who pitched for the state finalist Vikings in the 2010 Class 2A state championship game, was the only other Viking selected to the game.
Tucker's older brother, JT, played second base on that 2010 squad.
"The future is bright and regardless if we won or lost (against Eastern Tech), it was a good experience for everybody," Kohel said. "It got Austin recognized by another coach."
Tucker was 1-for-4 and his twin brother, Luke, the Vikings' center fielder was also 1-for-4 against the Mavericks.
Their skill, maturity and ability to show leadership qualities is what earned them varsity roster spots.
"He and his brother are like that and that's why it was a no-brainer to put those two sophomores on varsity and have them start the entire year," Kohel said.
Austin's early-season was sidetracked by kidney surgery in mid-March, causing him to miss five games. He didn't start playing until the week after spring break.
When he came back and took over the starting catcher's job, the Vikings (8-10) began turning their season around.
"He changes the game for us back there," Kohel said. "He stops the running game and he blocks the balls and he does everything you hope you can find in a high school catcher. You lose games because you don't have it."
A slow start to the season because of the surgery may have attributed to his low overall batting mark (.222), but he had a high on base percentage (.378).
"That was what was frustrating him the most when he came back from his surgery and I tried to tell him that it was going to take time to get his bat ready and to get his timing down," Kohel said. "By the end of the year he was coming up with some big hits and that one (against Eastern Tech) could have been the biggest."
In his first five games back from surgery, he was 1-for-13. In his last eight, he batted .291.
But, it was his defensive tools that caught Kohel's eye.
Tucker threw out 37 percent of base stealers (7 of 19).
Teams stopped running on him when he threw someone out early in the game, and when experienced senior southpaw Joe D'Urso was on the mound the running game was dormant.
"He's by far the best catch and throw guy I've ever had one and one of the better ones I've seen in nine years of coaching," Kohel said. "It's a great feeling knowing he's on our team."
He also gave his pitcher's confidence with his ability to block balls in the dirt.
"He kept the ball in front and kept guys from advancing and scoring," Kohel said. "I only look forward to great things from him in the future."
After the loss to Eastern Tech, Tucker felt for the seniors who had played their last game for Lansdowne, but was looking forward to the future.
"It's terrible for them because they played a great game, great season, but things happen," said Tucker, who saw the entire team come together in the playoffs when the Vikings won three straight games to get to the regional finals. "People just got more mentally into the game. Toward the end, they realized this could be it for our seniors and we just had to go hard, 100 percent, all out, and we expect that next year too."