COLUMBIA, MD — Coming into Monday's 3A East sectional semifinal game at Atholton, Glenelg baseball coach Steve Ballance knew that a blowout was way too much to hope for.
With the Gladiators having played in 10 games this season that were decided by two runs or less — four wins and six losses — Ballance just wanted a chance to win in the late innings.
"We've been in a lot of these games on both sides, so this is what we were looking for," said Ballance, whose team won, 3-2, after a two-run double by leadoff man Davis Jones in the top of the 7th. "We wanted to be in a tie, up one, down one. We were happy with that and then let the game take its course … we were getting the pitch count up and hitting good at times and it was just a matter of time."
The Gladiators (12-8) now advance to play at defending 3A state champion Reservoir on Wednesday for the Section II championship. On the other side of the bracket, regular season champ Mt. Hebron will host Centennial in a 2014 playoff rematch.
The Gladiators — having lost to Reservoir, 2-1, on April 11, then beating the Gators in extra innings on Senior Day — feel like they're facing the state champs at the perfect time.
"These guys want to get through the state champs, they know that they can beat them," Ballance said. "We play on purpose very unpredictable (against Reservoir), and it keeps them always on their toes. We'll do some things that they might not expect ... We're going to feel very good. We know we can beat them, they know we can beat them, but we know they can beat us. That's the way the league has been all year."
Jones said that even though his team finished the conference season just one game over .500, the playoffs are a different beast.
"You're nervous out there, but you've got to stay excited," said the senior. "I'm super excited right now. We beat Reservoir last week and coming off that high it's going to be great seeing them again."
In Monday's game, both teams seemed to be battling nerves, as Atholton committed five errors, and Glenelg stranded eight baserunners.
"We thought the only edge we had by not being home in this game was that we got to hit first. You get some of those nerves out of the way," Ballance said. "It wasn't the cleanest game by both teams, but both teams did enough to win ... we were knocking on the door. We left a few runners on base, it was just a matter of coming up with that hit."
Raiders junior starter Blake James pitched well with runners on base the entire game. In the top of the first, Anthony Bowman and Garrett Southern hit back-to-back two out singles, but James avoided any damage with his first of seven strikeouts.
After that he got seven consecutive outs, with catcher Sammy Feuerman catching a runner stealing second after reaching on an error with two down in the second.
The Raiders gave their pitcher a 1-0 lead in the second, when Feuerman tripled to right center field on a play where the Glenelg center and right fielders collided with each other. Courtesy runner Ryan Hess then scored on a two-out single by Tyler Farace.
Two innings later, though, Glenelg would tie the game. Southern reached on a two-base throwing error, then courtesy runner Matt Poltorak advanced to third on a single by Tucker Garufi, who then stole second. The throw to second base missed the cutoff man and the backup, and dribbled into the outfield, allowing Poltorak to jog home.
"We had opportunities. We missed a couple of scoring situations, missed plays, and (Glenelg) made the most out of it," Atholton coach Jon Dupski said.
Glenelg junior starter Cole Yungmann kept the Gladiators in the game, scattering four hits through four-plus innings, and kept runs off the board in the third and fifth innings thanks to outstanding defensive efforts resulting in double plays.
In the third, Josh Pickens reached base on an infield error, but Bowman erased it by making a diving catch on a line drive at shortstop, then firing to first for the inning ending double play. In the fifth, the Raiders put runners on second and third with a Brian Cook walk and stolen base, followed by a Jordan Patterson single. But Yungmann once again avoided trouble when reliever Carter Mullinix came on and got a fly ball to right field, which Chris Lipp caught and made a strong throw home to get the inning ending out at the plate.
"Our leaders stepped up, our captains stepped up, our seniors," Ballance said. "It was a big opportunity for Yungmann, his first playoff outing of any significance today, and he kept us in it."
James, meanwhile, also got deep in the game thanks to some help from his defense. After Jones reached second on a single and stolen base with two outs in the fifth, Patterson made an excellent play on a ground ball deep in the hole at short, rifling the ball to first just before Chris Ransom's foot thumped the base. Then in the sixth, Southern tagged his second base hit of the game, and then Garufi reached on a sky high infield pop out that fell between home plate and the mound. But a textbook 4-6-3 double play from Cook to Patterson to Wil Holtzmann sent the game to the bottom of the sixth with the score still tied at 1-1.
"We knew coming into it that it was going to be a fight, we told our kids that all week, preparing for this game," Dupski said. "And it did come down to the end."
Mullinix, who has pitched well for the Gladiators all season, got a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the sixth on three balls that didn't get out of the infield, then Glenelg got the breakthrough it had been waiting for in the top of the seventh.
It started when pinch hitter Sean Kinloch dribbled a grounder a few yards in front of the plate, and it was bobbled with no throw to first. Lipp then drew a four-pitch, one-out walk, prompting Dupski to hand the ball to reliever Nick Raulin.
Jones worked a 2-1 count, then came through with what proved to be the game-winning double to deep right field.
"I saw a fastball on the outside corner and just drove it. I just wanted to put something hard in play," he said. "When it came off the bat I thought I got a lot of it. (The right fielder) sat underneath it for a bit, but it ended up falling."
Atholton made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh when Feuerman hit a leadoff single and Hess scored on a two-out RBI double to deep left field by Cook, the No. 9 hitter. Glenelg then intentionally walked Patterson, putting the winning run on first base, but Mullinix induced a routine pop fly to center field to end the game.
"In Howard County, this is what you prepare yourself for," Dupski said. "It's very disappointing though. I've grown very close to my senior class. We had nine seniors, we spent a lot of time together in the weight room, in the offseason, every morning we had a group coming into my classroom just talking about baseball. It saddens me that it has to end.
"Everybody contributed something, so it's hard ... our baseball coaches put so much passion and so much time into it. It's just hard to end. You have four teams in the state ending on a win, and everybody else ends on a loss ... but I'm proud of my team. We did great, I was happy with their performance."
G (12-8) 000 100 2 - 3 6 1
A (10-8) 010 000 1 - 2 6 5
Yungmann, Mullinix (5) and Southern. James, Raulin (7) and Feuerman.
2B: G — Jones. A — Cook. 3B: A — Feuerman.