COLUMBIA, MD — Monday's baseball game between Atholton and Howard had regular-season title hopes on the line, but there was more on the minds of the players.
Howard played the game with heavy hearts after classmate Garrett Bonin died in a car accident during the weekend.
"It's just a terrible tragedy what happened," Howard baseball coach Nick Hoffner said. "We came out here, we fought and we battled. Obviously, I don't think our minds were completely out here, which is completely understandable."
The Lions dedicated the game to Bonin and brought a Howard baseball hat with his name written on the brim to the game. Howard junior Casey Crawford, who called Bonin a close friend, started the game on the mound.
Atholton, the two-time defending county champion, wasn't playing to defend its title on Senior Day, but the Raiders were determined to play a role in which team would succeed them.
Atholton (10-7) defeated the visiting Lions, 7-4, to knock Howard (14-3) out of first place. The Lions will be spectators on Tuesday when Mt. Hebron (13-2) attempts to clinch the county title outright.
"We came in here wanting to show everyone that we're not a team that you can roll over," said Atholton senior Nick Raulin, who was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. "We're going to fight, and that's what we came out and did."
Mt. Hebron is scheduled to complete a rain-suspended game with Long Reach at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, picking up with the score tied, 2-2, after six innings. The Vikings then will board a bus at Mt. Hebron and travel to River Hill, where they will complete their regular season.
Mt. Hebron can clinch a share of the title with a win in either game, but if Long Reach (7-8) and/or River Hill (6-10) manage to win, Howard would be back in first place.
Hoffner wants to get his players ready for the regional and state playoffs in the 4A classification.
"I look at it as two seasons," he said. "We had the regular season, and we just completed that. We had a great year.
"We would've loved to win today but obviously that didn't happen. We've just got to learn from these mistakes we made and hopefully come out and have a good practice week and get ready for Monday's (playoff) game."
Atholton scored four runs in the first inning on a walk, four singles and an error. Howard came back with three runs in the top of the second — on a leadoff walk by KJ Murray, a two-out RBI single by freshman Craig Wiley, a walk by Devin Rowell and a two-run single by catcher Eric Greenbaum — to tie the game.
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the fifth, when Atholton took control with three runs on a leadoff double by James, a run-scoring error off the bat of Wil Holtzman, an RBI double by Casey Kelly, and a passed ball.
"We definitely came out ready to play today," Atholton coach Jon Dupski said. "We had nine seniors and I ended up starting all of them."
Howard left-hander Reid Walsh pitched a perfect seventh to keep the Lions within three runs, but James (5 IP, 7 K, 3 BB, 1 H, 0 R) also retired the side in order in the bottom of the frame to earn the victory.
"Howard is a great hitting ball club," Dupski said. "I wish them the best of luck. I hope they go very far and win a 4A state championship."
Ho (14-3) 130 000 0 - 4 4 3
A (10-7) 400 030 x - 7 10 3
Crawford, Walsh (7) and Greenbaum. Pons, James (3) and Feuerman.
2B: A — Raulin, James, Kelly.