Patterson Mill's bid for the Maryland Class 1A state baseball championship was literally rail-roaded Monday in Aberdeen.
Brunswick senior pitcher Andrew Wanger tossed a three-hitter at Ripken Stadium to lead the Railroaders to their second straight 1A state baseball title.
The Railroaders (19-7) hit two home runs in the fifth inning to break up a 1-0 game and went on to win, 4-0.
Patterson Mill (21-4), which saw its 18-game win streak snapped, struggled offensively against Wanger and it didn't help having two runners picked off base over the first three innings.
"You gotta give credit where credit is due, he threw a three hitter," Huskies head coach Matt Roseland said. "When we made good contact, they made the play in the field, so they're the two-time state champs for a reason."
Brunswick got to Huskies starter Austin Koehn in the second inning. Koehn hit John Harding to start the inning, but he was erased on catcher Dom Naylor's grounder to third. Courtesy runner Zach Heffner took over at first and Tyler Babyak stepped in and laced a double down the left field line.
Conor McCormick then hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Heffner.
Patterson Mill's first hit came in the first, when Jordan Reid hit a grounder up the first base line that caromed off the base.
Reid was picked off moments later.
Thomas Kragh drew a one-out walk in the third, but was also picked off. Wanger pitched to the minimum over the first four innings.
"It's not a lack of focus on our kids, that kid had a great pickoff move," Roseland said. "We had to adjust and shorten up, we obviously didn't do it fast enough until we had to learn a hard lesson."
Koehn, meanwhile, was in a groove as well, setting down eight in a row after the Babyak double.
It was Babyak, though, who fueled the Railroaders three-run, fifth inning rally.
Babyak, a senior first baseman headed to the Marines, belted a Koehn offering over the wall in left, just inside the foul pole, to lead off the inning.
"It just kind of happened, I was going up there, trying to get on base and start the inning off, get a few more runs in," Babyak said. "I wasn't trying to anything too big when I went up there. I think I might have hit the double harder, I got lucky with the home run."
Koehn settled down and got the next two batters, but like deja vu, leadoff hitter Connor Kean also went deep, sneaking over the wall in left.
The Railroaders weren't done. Justin Walls followed with a single and stolen base, Wanger walked and Tyler Ebberts added a single to plate Walls with the game's final run.
Patterson Mill's best scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the fifth with two outs.
Nick Cress doubled inside the bag at third and Steve Spencer was hit by pitch. Kragh grounded to short, but Spencer's pinch runner, Todd Campo, beat Railroaders second baseman Ebberts to the bag, extending the inning.
Pinch hitter Cooper Mattheu flew out to center field to end the inning.
Koehn gave up a leadoff single to Naylor in the sixth, his final batter.
"When I threw in, they were hitting the ball, they were getting around on it and I missed in twice and I paid for it," Koehn said. Koehn, a sophomore, was 10-0 during the season with a 1.09 ERA.
Junior Jake Sheesley pitched the final two innings for the Huskies.
Max Elliott drew a two-out walk in the sixth, while Wanger, who struck out six, retired the Huskies on three ground balls in the seventh.
"I'm feeling pretty good, we had a really good season," senior Kyle Goudy said. "It's a shame we couldn't finish with a win, but they had a good pitcher and we just didn't come out hitting today."