North East comeback bid falls short in extra innings
WALDORF — Down to their final inning to make a rally, the North East Indians baseball team dug down deep and came up with some timely hits to force extra innings against a tough Glenelg team.
Glenelg then made the plays in the eighth innings to eliminate the Indians, 4-3, and advance to the Class 2A state championship game.
The comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the seventh inning was exactly what North East and coach Kevin Brown expected from themselves if not a bit late.
“That’s the way they did it all year,” Brown said of his teams fight and will to win. “And I had confidence they would make a run. I think our guys were geared up and felt like they had to swing at anything close. I just feel like as an offensive team not patient at the plate and he exposed that impatient. I don’t know if it would have made a difference (in the outcome) but we needed to be more patient and see more pitches and just realize we had the talent to hit the ball. Things just didn’t go our way that last inning.”
Ethan Flaugher hit a scathing double down the base line that tied the game in the seventh inning. It followed a Evan England single that scored the teams first run of the night.
In the final inning, Glenelg had just enough plays left in them defensively to stamp out the North East momentum.
“They made all the plays defensively and their pitcher was very efficient,” Brown said. “He threw a lot of strikes.”
North East baseball in 2022 featured seven seniors, including three senior starters in Jacob Whiteman, Austin Keefer and Nathan England. It was part of a senior class that led by example and helped North East to a 20-2 record and winning eight of their final nine games.
“They were leaders and they led by example in terms of how they performed on the field,” Brown said. “This is a relatively young team still. We are only losing three senior starters. I just think the next group if we find guys to plug in those three openings, if they are willing to step up then there should be no reason we are not successful next few years.”
Whiteman, the All-County Player of the Year, will be the most difficult to replace in what he did both on offense and defense as the top pitcher.
“When you think of what he did on the mound and hitting,” Brown said. “That will be difficult to replace. He did so much from a defensive standpoint but offensively as well.”