CLARKSVILLE, MD — The 2015 Howard County baseball title chase came to an end on Tuesday afternoon not with the pop of a mitt or the crack of a bat, but with the roar of thunder.
With his team leading 8-3 at River Hill in the top of the seventh when the storm rolled in, the sound was sweet relief for Mt. Hebron coach Brian Culley, whose team clinched its first county title in a decade with the weather-shortened victory.
"Whoever it was (that sent the storm), I thank them," said Culley, whose team won six games via walkoff this spring, including one earlier in the day in the 11th inning against Long Reach. "It's been a grind, but it's not supposed to be easy, is it?"
The Vikings (15-2) played four games in four days between April 27 and 30, then played three more on Monday and Tuesday to make up for rainouts earlier this spring.
"The last couple days we've had three games and it's 85 degrees. It's hard on the kids and wearing on their bodies physically coming off of playing four games last week," Culley said. "I'm proud of these kids. I've been blessed to have a good group of kids every year, but one through 17 here and the two managers, these kids are just awesome. And obviously they can play the game of baseball a little bit, too."
The Vikings (15-2) started the final day of the regular season at 2 p.m., completing a game with Long Reach that was suspended with the score tied 2-2 after six innings last week.
That game took five more innings to complete, as neither team scored until the bottom of the 11th, when Matt Ansaldi drove home Zack Stewart with a bases loaded one-out single to left.
"Once we're down and we know that we've got to start putting good at-bats together we put good at-bats together and drive the ball the other way or hard on the ground," said Ansaldi, who also drew two walks and scored twice in the win over River Hill. "This team is really close and it's just been a fun ride with them. It's awesome."
Coming into Monday, Howard also had only two losses and could have clinched at least a share of the county title with a win at Atholton. But the Raiders pulled off the upset, setting the stage for Mt. Hebron to take sole possession of the crown with two wins on Tuesday.
"They haven't all been easy, but the one thing I can say about this group is that they've never given up one single time," said Culley, whose team came back to beat Hammond, 7-6, in the seventh inning on Monday. "They fought until the last out, the last pitch, every time and fortunately we were able to come out on the winning end more times than not."
Vikings ace Mark Smith, who has committed to pitch for Towson University next year, didn't have his best stuff on Tuesday. But he grinded out the win, allowing three runs on six hits, three walks and three hit batters, using 125 pitches to get through six innings.
The Vikings gave him four runs of support in the top of the first, including a two-run single by Jake Snyder and an RBI double by Jack Montgomery. Joey Trapuzzano followed a Danny Brouse single with an RBI triple in the second, and the Vikings added three insurance runs in the fifth, on an error, three straight walks, and back-to-back RBI singles by Smith and Stewart.
River Hill stranded nine base runners, five of them at third base, but scratched out three runs, on a Jordan Northrup RBI single in the first, a wild pitch that scored Ryan Benedek in the third, and an RBI single by Derek Gold in the sixth.
"Give (Mt. Hebron) credit for having the intangible qualities to win the close games, and that's reflective of the type of kids that they are. They're good, tough kids," said River Hill coach Wes McCoy, who teaches at Mt. Hebron. "When you have those intangibles they tend to reward you in tight situations."
River Hill is scheduled to begin its playoffs with an opening round game on Friday, while Mt. Hebron gets to take the weekend off and rest up for a second round game on Monday.
"The county championship is awesome. We're going to put the banner up in the gym and nobody is ever going to be able to take that away from us," Culley said. "But we're not done. We've still got work to do still."
The playoff brackets will be released by the MPSSAA on Wednesday.
MH (15-2) 410 030 - 8 9 1
RH (6-11) 101 001 - 3 6 1
Smith and Broache. Mann, Champion (5) and L. Parker.
2B: MH — Montgomery. 3B: MH — Trapuzzano.