Mother Nature rules Warriors-Rams baseball contest
La Plata-McDonough baseball game halted due to lightning tied in top of the 9th
La Plata and McDonough played one another and the elements on Monday.
The Warriors and Rams were hoping to get in their Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Potomac Division contest at McDonough High in Pomfret. And there was a lot at stake with the division title up for grabs. Mother Nature would have her say by the end.
With two outs and La Plata
senior Scott Logue up to bat against McDonough pitcher Brant Butler in a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth inning, the umpires suspended the action due to lightning.
The game is scheduled to resume at 4:30 p.m. today with the winner moving on to play for the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference championship game versus the Chesapeake Division champion scheduled for May 11 at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf.
Entering Monday, La Plata was 15-1 overall, 9-0 in the division, while McDonough was 144, 9-1. It was the second contest between the two teams with the Warriors squeaking out a 7-6 win on April 15.
Butler entered the game for senior pitcher David Larson, who went eight innings and struck out 11 batters. Larson allowed one run on five hits, walking one and threw 105 pitches.
Logue also had supreme command on the mound for the Warriors, going seven innings with 10 strikeouts, including striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh. Logue also allowed just one run on five hits and walked a batter.
“It was a fun game to coach and for the guys to play in,” La Plata head coach John Childers said. “For my money these are the two best teams in the conference and are bringing out the best in each other.”
Jake Hanks came in to relieve Logue in the bottom of the eighth and struck out three of the six batters that he faced in the inning. He also walked two and hit the first batter of the inning with a pitch.
“Both starting pitchers pitched great games. We just didn’t execute what we are supposed to do at times,” said McDonough head coach Mike Lydon, whose team left nine runners in scoring position. “It is a great game so far. We had our opportunities though.”
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when McDonough would be the first to get on the scoreboard.
Damien Price and Trevor Drummond led off the frame with back-to-back singles, then sophomore catcher Peyton Myers singled in Price scored to give the Rams the 1-0 lead.
Brett Pilkerton led off the top of the sixth for La Plata with a single to right field and advanced to second on a errant throw. A sacrifice bunt by Taylor Cook moved Pilkerton to third.
Two batters later with two outs, senior catcher Tyler Stockwell hit a single to left, scoring Pilkerton to knot the game at 1.
Logue followed up things with a double deep to center. Stockwell was thrown out at home plate on the relay throw by McDonough shortstop Kendrick Musser and Myers tagged Stockwell to end the inning, saving a run that would have put the Warriors on top.
“Kendrick just made a great throw,” Stockwell said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to home plate in time. It was tough, but we will get it done. It is a fun game.”
“The play at the plate was obviously huge,” Childers said. “It took a perfect relay to get Tyler at the plate and they made the play or we win it in regulation.”
It was McDonough center fielder Quin Robertson who gathered the ball on Logue’s hit and threw the ball to Musser, who was able to make the huge throw.
“If it wasn’t for that throw at home plate, that would have been the game,” Lydon said.