FULTON, MD — The Reservoir baseball team saw its state title defense quickly spinning out of control earlier this week. The Gators dropped to 9-3 after a 3-1 loss to Atholton on Tuesday and a 9-2 loss to Marriotts Ridge on Thursday, and their highly anticipated showdown with first place Howard on Friday afternoon was starting to take on an air of desperation.
"We said 'We've got to figure out who we are, fast'," Reservoir coach Adam Leader said. "This was a big game for us to bounce into ... we said 'Let's get that mentality that we had against (previously undefeated Mt. Hebron last Saturday)' and that's exactly what came out tonight."
Jack Barry pitched a perfect seventh inning in relief of starter Jon Mierzwa, then squared up on a first-pitch change-up with one out in the bottom of the seventh to drive home Joey Janush from second base for the 3-2 victory.
Howard ace Jimmy Cain "hung me a change-up. All game he's been fooling me. He's a great pitcher, he just hung a change-up in the middle of the plate and I put a good swing on it," said Barry, who scored the Gators' first run in the first inning after being hit by a pitch and then racing home on a two-out double by Drew Stone. "We've still got some work to do. We're going to have some tough games next week, and obviously we've got to win out to have a shot at (the county title)."
Howard fell to 11-2 with the loss, but Marriotts Ridge helped the Lions out by scoring six runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Mt. Hebron, 6-5, on Friday, spoiling a golden opportunity for the Vikings (9-2) to take sole possession of first place.
"We've still got four more games left, and we want to be hitting our peak when we go into the playoffs here in a week and a half," Howard coach Nick Hoffner said. "You figure there are four games, that's 25 percent of our county games, so there's still plenty of baseball left to be played."
It is now essentially a three-team race, as Howard and Mt. Hebron have two losses each, and Reservoir has three. Atholton and Marriotts Ridge are tied for fourth place at 8-5.
"We've just got to do our job, and that's all we can control," said Barry, still flying high on the emotion of the walkoff double. "This definitely had the atmosphere of a playoff game."
On Friday, Howard took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second inning. Casey Crawford hit an opposite field lead-off double, then Sam Jacobson moved him to third with a bloop single. Jacobson then stole second base, and Crawford scampered home on the throw to second. Then, with one out, Reid Walsh hit a chopper to third base. Barry fielded the ball and spun around to find Jacobson advancing to third. He made a throw to shortstop Leo Estevez, who was hustling over to cover the bag, but the ball rolled into left field, allowing Jacobson to sprint home for the go-ahead run.
"It was a softly hit ball, and Leo was calling for the ball so we could get the lead runner at least in a close game like this," Barry said. "We just needed to stay within ourselves for the next time."
Lions catcher Eric Greenbaum singled with one out in the third, and courtesy runner Josh Olivier stole second and third base, but then Mierzwa got locked in, retiring six batters in a row between the third and fifth innings, and facing the minimum nine batters in the fourth through sixth innings (Greenbaum singled with two outs in the fifth, but catcher Mark Reynolds caught Olivier stealing second to end the inning).
The Gators tied the game in the bottom of the third when DH Cody Morris reached on a one-out error, advanced on a second error, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a two-out RBI single into the hole by freshman Cameron Hyder. Eric Niederhauser attempted to score the go-ahead run on the same play, but was cut down at the plate by Crawford to end the inning.
Estevez walked and stole second in the fourth, but was picked off to end that inning. Cain (7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 8 K, 4 BB) struck out the top of Reservoir's line-up in order in the fifth, but the Gators had another great scoring chance in the sixth. Stone launched a sky-high pop-up toward the left side of the infield, but it drifted in the wind and fell untouched in front of third base for a single. He then advanced on a sac bunt by Hyder and tried to score on a two-out single to right by Estevez, but was thrown out at the plate by Devin Rowell.
After six innings, Mierzwa (4 H, 1 ER, 8 K, 1 BB) had reached his innings limit for the week — which included eight innings in the win over Mt. Hebron last Saturday. The Gators are resting Morris, the three-time Howard County Pitcher of the Year, for the playoffs, so Barry got the ball with the game tied 2-2 in the seventh.
The opportunity was especially sweet for Barry, who took the loss in an Opening Day 6-3 defeat at Howard.
"As soon as I got the opportunity to come in there and pitch after the loss in the first game of the season, I knew I wanted to come out and make some pitches for (Mierzwa) and Leader and get the win for my guys," he said.
After retiring the side on just 13 pitches, it wasn't much longer until Barry got his chance to get redemption with his bat as well. Janush, the Gators' No. 9 hitter, fell behind with an 0-2 count before poking a grounder through the left side of the infield, and then advanced into scoring position on a well-executed sac bunt by Mierzwa. When Barry drove the final pitch on a line to deep left field, the only question was whether the ball would stay fair.
"Anytime you get put in a position to make a play, you want to make it. You want the ball in your hands, you want to have the big at-bat. I'm just thankful I was able to do that," Barry said. "Props to Joey and Jon for setting that up for me."
Ho (11-2) 020 000 0 - 2 4 2
Re (10-3) 101 000 1 - 3 7 1
Cain and Greenbaum. Mierzwa, Barry (7) and Reynolds.
2B: Ho — Crawford. Re — Stone, Barry.