North Point baseball clips McDonough
Eagles baseball holds off Rams at end for Potomac Division win
As the North Point baseball team took a three-run lead into the bottom half of the seventh inning during Thursday’s Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Potomac Division contest, host McDonough did not go away.
With two outs and Trevor Drummond on first base, Brant Butler cranked a two-run home run off North Point junior reliever Lance Lynch to cut the lead to one.
However, on the next-at bat, junior catcher Peyton Myers struck out swinging as the Eagles sur vived with a 4-3 victory in Pomfret, handing the Rams their first loss of the season.
Lynch, who allowed two runs and two hits in twothirds of an inning, picked up the huge save in front of senior Kendrick Creasey, a transfer from Colonial Beach (Va.) who picked up the win after giving up no earned runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings with five walks and three strikeouts.
“I just wanted to come out here and throw strikes and get the job done to help this team win,” Creasey said. “This was another good win for us and this team is like a family. I love playing on this team.”
It was another big division win in the county for North Point (4-2, 3-0 SMAC Potomac after a 13-2 win over Lackey on Monday), which also knocked off defending Class 2A state champion La Plata 8-1 at home on Wednesday.
The Eagles are scheduled to travel to Leonardtown for a crossover contest at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“We are playing good baseball right now,” North Point head coach Wade Nadolsky said. “We had good team at-bats and were able to score with runners in scoring position and that was the difference. And our infield made some solid plays. We did the little things to get the win.”
North Point, which managed just four hits in the game, trailed 1-0 after two innings, scored four unanswered runs on three hits in the top of the third.
North Point’s Kevon Wharton led off the third with a single to right field.
Patrick Estevez then laid down a bunt and advanced to second base after overthrown ball at first base, while Wharton went to third.
Creasey put the Eagles up 2-1 with a two-run single to center. After a single from catcher Zach Doss, Will Riedel drove in Creasey on an RBI groundout to push the lead to two runs.
North Point tacked on its final run when Doss scored on a sacrifice fly by Cody Bottorf.
“This was huge to get two straight [division] wins early in the season and credit to McDonough for playing a tough game against us,” Doss said. “We are doing a good job of executing and getting timely hits when we need them. “Our pitchers have been throwing well and have a dog mindset. And that comes from working hard in the offseason.”
In the bottom half of the first, Creasey walked three of McDonough’s first five batters. With the bases loaded and one out, Austin Simms walked to bring in Drummond.
Drummond, Butler and Golden all had two hits each for McDonough.
“We battled at the end and once Brant hit that home run I knew we needed two or three more hits to be able to win the game,” McDonough head coach Mike Lydon said. “[Creasey] pitched a great game. He only gave up four hits and threw it hard enough where we couldn’t get good contact on it. If he keeps doing that, he will be very successful.”
Simms started on the mound and allowed four runs, one earned, in four innings with three strikeouts.
Butler pitched the final three innings for the Rams (5-1, 1-1 after a 12-1 win over St. Charles on Monday) and struck out three batters with two walks.
“When I hit that home run that gave us a boost and we had a chance to win. We just came up short,” Butler said. “We have a lot of experience and deep pitching this year. Our bats are still there we just didn’t hit like we normally today.”
McDonough is scheduled to take on host Westlake at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.