COLUMBIA, MD — If Opening Night of the Howard County baseball season is any indication, 2015 will be a year that does not adhere to the status quo.
On Monday night, Glenelg knocked off defending county champion Atholton, 11-3, while Howard upended defending state champion Reservoir, 6-3.
"It was an outstanding performance. We had our seniors step up," said Glenelg coach Steve Ballance, whose team was 8-9 in league play last year and lost to Atholton in the second round of the playoffs. "These guys were undefeated last year, our season ended here last year ... a lot of people remember that this is how the season ended last year."
The Gladiators hammered nine hits in the win, including RBI doubles by sophomore Sean Kinloch and senior Garrett Southern, and a two-run triple by senior Nick Goneconto.
"Pitching really won this game for us, and clutch hitting. We couldn't have played that game any better," said Southern, who reached base four times in the win. "Everything we worked on in the offseason, that's what we did."
Southern said that preparing for Opening Day, which was originally scheduled for last Friday but was postponed due to snow, was a challenge with the unplayable fields to contend with.
"We had a brand new turf cage at Glenelg, so we were able to throw pitchers against live hitters, and that really helped us," he said. "It helped seeing live pitching and every bullpen we threw in practice we had a hitter in there looking at live pitching ... it was phenomenal ... I have a really good feeling about this team. The attitude is right and the chemistry is there."
Four different Glenelg pitchers, led by starter Cole Yungmann, combined for the winning effort.
"We did what we were hoping to do. Our preseason went really well and everybody has been really getting after it, real workman-like," Ballance said. "That carried into this. We played this game with confidence like we thought we could play good baseball, and that's what we did."
Atholton finally broke through in the seventh inning on an RBI double by junior Blake James off of the left field wall. Jordan Patterson and William Holtzman each added two hits for the Raiders.
Over at Howard, Lions senior James Cain earned the win over defending state champion Reservoir, 6-3. Junior Casey Crawford closed the game with three innings of one-run baseball, and roped two doubles at the plate. JR Faulkner also doubled, while Keenan Fischer hit a clutch two-out, two-run single, and Sam Jacobson collected four hits in his varsity debut.
"It's definitely exciting to beat a defending state champion," Howard coach Nick Hoffner said.
Reservoir seniors Jack Barry and Jon Mierzwa combined to pitch seven innings in the loss.
Elsewhere in the county, Long Reach senior Nick Moy (8 Ks) tossed a no-hitter to shut out River Hill, 3-0, and Mt. Hebron earned a 3-2 win over Marriotts Ridge on a bases loaded walkoff single by Jack Montgomery.
Daniel Brouse scored the winning run, and Zack Stewart got the win in relief of Mark Smith, who pitched five innings. Matt Ansaldi led the Vikings offense with two hits and two RBIs.
Gunnar Barnard pitched five strong innings for the Mustangs.
For the Lightning, Duncan Poler, Chris Wessels and Sam Lobdell drove in the runs to turn Moy's masterful outing into a win.
Ben Borucki struck out five in five innings for River Hill.