Dulaney baseball coach Ryan Wolfsheimer isn't sure which element was most responsible for his team's victory over host Perry Hall Thursday — the Lions' pitching or his players' memories.
Four Dulaney pitchers limited Perry Hall to one run over the last six innings in a 6-4 triumph that provided some redemption for last year's season-ending, one-run loss to Perry Hall in the Class 4A North Region semifinal.
"My guys were jacked up for this game," Wolfsheimer said. "They have been looking forward to it since last May. You notice even the quiet guys were pumped up."
Perry Hall scored three runs in the bottom of the first off of starter Casey Drechsler, a sophomore right-hander. Josh Benzing had a run-scoring single and Jake Chavis added an RBI to put Perry Hall ahead, 3-1.
But the rest of the way, Drechsler and three left-handers, Stephen Keidel, Blake Davis and Harris Lipinski gave up only three hits to help Dulaney improve to 4-0.
"Winning is contagious," Wolfsheimer said. "When you get used it, you keep on doing it. You just find ways to stay within yourself. In the first inning when Perry Hall scored three runs and we scored one, I said, 'We have to keep our composure. It's a seven-inning game.'"
Dulaney's big inning was the sixth. The Lions pushed across two runs off of Andrew Yu, who came on in the fourth to relieve his brother Brandon, a sophomore.
Tyler Pillas doubled to left-center field to lead off and Jake Sousa followed with a double to right-center field to score Pillas and give the Lions a 5-4 lead.
Sousa moved to third on Ryan Wells' fielder's choice and scored when Drew Bossi reached on an error.
"They had some big hits in that inning and that was the difference," Perry Hall coach Joe Carlineo said.
Davis, a junior, picked up the victory for Dulaney. He pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth innings.
Lipinski, a senior and the team's ace, earned the save with a scoreless seventh inning.
Dulaney sophomore Ronald Dent, who was the designated hitter, went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Pillas had two hits and scored two runs.