ELLICOTT CITY, MD — After his team's 4-3 walkoff win over Hammond last week, Mt. Hebron baseball coach Brian Culley said his team was giving him more gray hair than he wanted. Apparently, the Vikings think that the salt-and-pepper look suits Culley well.
Mt. Hebron defeated visiting Howard, 3-2, on Wednesday afternoon on a two-out walkoff single to left by sophomore Jack Schroeder, the same player who delivered the clutch hit against Hammond last week.
"We've had way too many go down to the wire and another one went down to the wire today, but it was good to get another walk-off," said senior Mark Smith, who earned the complete game victory, allowing six hits and two walks without an earned run while striking out 12. "I don't think anyone likes making (Culley) nervous but this is our fouth walkoff at home. We're all trying to go up and rake and hit, but it's early in the season and I think our best at bats are yet to come. Obviously our pitching and defense are keeping us in games."
The two teams came into the contest without a loss in league play, so the win gives Mt. Hebron (7-0) sole possession of first place in Howard County, while Howard (7-1) falls into a tie for second place with defending 3A state champion Reservoir (6-1).
"We're not going to go undefeated unfortunately ... but hey, hopefully somebody else gets these guys and we can stay in the hunt for the county championship," Howard coach Nick Hoffner said.
Howard fell behind in the first inning on Wednesday when Vikings leadoff man Joey Trapuzzano singled, stole second, took third on an overthrow from the plate and scored on a Matt Ansaldi two-out RBI single on full count.
Mt. Hebron expanded its lead to 2-0 in the third when Jake Snyder drew a one-out walk, advanced on a single by Schroeder and scored on a two-out RBI single by Jack Montgomery.
But after that, starter Austin Aguilera and reliever Keenan Fischer buckled down, allowing the Lions to claw their way back into the game.
Sam Jacobson reached on a throwing error with two outs in the fourth, and eventually scored on an infield single by Fischer after singles through the infield by KJ Murray and Reid Walsh moved him to third.
Then in the fifth, Devin Rowell led off with a single and advanced to third on an Eric Greenbaum single and a fielders choice off the bat of Casey Crawford, before scampering home after an overthrow to second base from home plate.
"We battled back," Hoffner said. "We took advantage of a couple of mistakes that they made, but Smith had pretty good command of his fastball and a pretty good breaking ball. He was by far the best pitcher we've seen all year."
Smith, who has committed to pitch for Towson next year, retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh, striking out four in a row in one stretch late in the game.
"All of my pitches were working," said Smith, who needed just 96 pitches to get through seven innings. "We haven't had a county championship in more than 20 years, so this would be a big season for us getting Hebron baseball back on top."
Reservoir, whose only loss was to Howard on Opening Day, will get a crack at undefeated Mt. Hebron this Saturday, then will get a rematch with the Lions on Friday, April 24.
"This is without a doubt the toughest stretch of our schedule so far, and it'll be challenging," Culley said. "We have some getting better to do before we take on another game, so we'll go to work and practice really hard and put our best foot out there and see what we've got.
"We're pitching really well and playing pretty good defense. That's always a good recipe, but we can't live on three or four runs all year long and expect to win every game because of that. We're going to need more at some point."
Ho (7-1) 000 110 0 - 2 6 3
MH (7-0) 101 000 1 - 3 6 2
Aguilera, Fischer (7), Walsh (7) and Greenbaum. Smith and Broache.