After Monday's 3-1 come-from-behind win at Glenelg on Monday, Mt. Hebron baseball coach Brian Culley was hoping for an offensive outburst and a blowout victory at home against Wilde Lake on Tuesday to ease the strain on his pitching staff and his own nerves.
The Vikings delivered with seven runs on Tuesday, but the Wildecats made sure that Culley still had to squirm.
Wilde Lake scored six runs in the top of the second, and Mt. Hebron needed a five-run rally in the bottom of the fifth to battle back, eventually winning on a walk-off single by Joe Herlihy in the bottom of the seventh. It was Mt. Hebron's fifth walk-off win this season.
Jack Schroeder, with a two-run single, and Matt Ansaldi, with a two-run double, delivered the big blows in the fifth, and Ansaldi went on to steal home with two outs for the final run of that inning.
Wilde Lake produced all of its runs with two outs in the second inning, on a Brandon Williams single, four walks, and back-to-back doubles by Matthew Aubin (3 RBI) and Sergio Irizarry-Cruz (RBI).
Jack Montgomery came on after the disastrous second, and pitched three innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one hit and striking out three. Ansaldi then earned the win, allowing just one baserunner on a walk in the top of the seventh, then hit a leadoff single, stole third and scored the winning run on Herlihy's two-out, pinch hit single in the bottom of the seventh.
Cuinn Mullins and Wyatt Oler had two hits each for the Wildecats, as did Ansaldi (2B, 2 SB), Schroeder, and Joey Trapuzzano for the Vikings.
Mt. Hebron (11-2) closes out the week at home against River Hill (5-8) on Wednesday and Long Reach (7-7) on Thursday. At 12-2, Howard has one more win in the books, and visits winless Oakland Mills on Wednesday before hosting Wilde Lake (7-8) on Friday.
WL (7-8) 060 000 0 - 6 9 3
MH (11-2) 000 150 1 - 7 12 0
Williams, Palasits (5) and Aubin. Carbonetti, Montgomery (4), Ansaldi (7) and Broache.
2B: WL — Irizarry-Cruz, Aubin. MH — Schroeder, Ansaldi, Snyder.