Rams advance back to region final
McDonough baseball run-rules Fairmont Heights in 1A North section final
The McDonough baseball team will be defending its regional championship once again.
Behind the stellar pitching from Tyler Slagel and a sixrun third inning explosion, the top-seeded Rams rolled to a 11-1 home victory in five innings over second-seeded Fairmont Heights of Prince George’s County in the Class 1A North Region Section II championship on Wednesday.
McDonough (18-5 overall), which scored all 11 of its runs in the second and third innings combined, advances to Friday’s region final where it will travel to take on Patterson Mill of Harford County in a contest scheduled for 4 p.m.
“It feels good to get back to the regional final. Last year we had five walk-off wins and this year we had four of them. I’s been a very good season so far,” McDonough head coach Mike Lydon, whose team defeated fourth-seeded Surrattsville, also of Prince George’s County, 13-0 on Monday. “Patterson Mill is a good team, we just have to be ready and stay focused.”
Patterson Mill edged Bohemia Manor of Cecil County 6-5 in extra innings in Wednesday’s Section I championship.
Slagel pitched a five-inning complete game, striking out 12 of the 15 batters on the day, allowing just one hit with no walks.
In the second, McDonough, the Potomac Division champions and runner-up in the SMAC championship game, falling to Huntingtown, 3-0, scored five runs on a fielder’s choice and two singles.
The third was sparked by a two-run double by Hunter Sweeney, an RBI single from Tommy Willey and three other runs were scored on errors.
McDonough’s sights are now set firmly on making another run at a 1A state championship where it settled for a runner-up finish last season. But it must first win the region first to get back to the state tournament.
“Our first goal was to get to the SMAC championship and we did that, now we have a chance to win the region again,” Lydon said. “Then hopefully this year we can win the state championship.”
McDonough’s softball team was scheduled to play its sectional final at home versus Surrattsville on Wednesday, but it was postponed to Thursday. A win puts the Rams in the regional final at Perryville of Cecil County at 4 p.m. Friday. Perryville defeated Bohemia Manor on Wednesday in the Section I final, 11-5.