BALTIMORE, MD — In the Boys' Latin-Glenelg Country baseball rivalry, the Dragons hold the biggest victory, defeating the Lakers for the 2013 Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference championship.
But after Monday's 4-1 win, Boys' Latin can claim the most recent triumph.
Junior Justin Ward, who is considered the Lakers' No. 3 starter, stifled the Dragons, allowing just five hits.
Three of those hits — an infield single by senior short stop Dylan Farnella, an opposite field liner just inside the first base line by sophomore starting pitcher Brendan Grady, and an RBI single by sophomore DH Will Bartlett — came consecutively in the fourth inning, leading to Glenelg Country's only run.
Ward "didn't walk any batters, he just said 'Here it is, see what you can do with it,' and we tended to hit the ball up into the wind a little bit and they ran under them and caught them," Glenelg Country coach Chris Garber said. "They played it a little better than we did."
Ward retired the last 11 batters of the game in order.
The Dragons started the game on the wrong foot in the bottom of the first inning, walking Lakers' leadoff man Mark Lopez, then making an infield throwing error that led to two unearned runs, as Josh Smith (2-3), Max Keefe (3-4, 2B) and Marquise Washington (2 RBIs) all drove in runs.
But Glenelg Country battled behind Grady, who allowed just one more run in the game, and the infield defense, which went on to cut down three Lakers baserunners at home plate, and turned two double plays to prevent the game from turning into a blowout.
"We put ourselves in a bind in the first inning," Garber said. "It wasn't necessarily pretty, but (Grady) battled the whole game and he made the pitches that he needed to make and he got the ground balls ... our defense got stronger as the game went on so we were able to hang in there.
Grady "kept his head and continued to make his pitches. He did a great job. We're real happy with that because he's going to have to pitch some other big games this year so this is a good experience for him."
Boys' Latin is undefeated in conference play, but all of the B Conference coaches concede that defending champion St. Mary's is the team that everyone will be chasing this spring.
The Saints, who are scheduled to visit Glenelg Country on Monday, feature multiple Division I prospects, and will be promoted to the A Conference next year.
This season, only the top six teams in the B Conference will qualify for the postseason.
"We'd like to be near the top of those top six to get a home game in the playoffs, but the bottom line is we want to be one of those six so that we can get into the playoffs and then anything can happen if we get hot," Garber said.
GC (2-2) 000 100 0 - 1 5 2
BL (3-0) 300 010 x - 4 10 0
Grady, Oh (6) and Sheehan. Ward and Purnell.
2B: BL — Keefe.