Senior leads North Point baseball to 4A East final
Zabiegalski tosses complete game as NP baseball rallies to beat Chopticon
North Point head coach Wade Nadolsky had all the confidence in the world in starting pitcher Matt Zabiegalski and the senior righthander did not disappoint.
Zabiegalski tossed a complete game five-hitter as North Point rallied from behind to defeat host Chopticon in the Class 4A East Region Section II baseball final on Tuesday.
It’s North Point’s first-ever berth in a regional championship game.
“It couldn’t have happened to a better bunch of kids,” Nadolsky said. “They’ve worked hard all season and executed everything I’ve asked them all season. We’ve been in the driver’s seat on our side of the division for most of the year. We slipped a bit at the end but they rebounded and we’re still going.”
“It’s pretty exciting,” said North Point infielder EJ Hampton, who drove in the eventual winning run with a fourth-inning double. “We just needed to stay calm, stay composed and just play our game, that’s really all we could do.”
Zabiegalski added: “This is what we’ve been working for. This is the farthest we’ve gone, and we’re going to keep going.”
The Eagles (14-5 overall) will face Severna Park of Anne Arundel County in the region final at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Joe Cannon Stadium in Hanover.
“We just have to come out and execute,” Nadolsky said of Friday’s game. “Our two pitchers — Zabiegalski ad Kendrick Creasey — are spent, so we have to come out and have a team effort. Everybody’s going to have to contribute.”
Zabiegalski was a huge part of the victory as he surrendered seven singles and struck out five with one walk.
“I had a good performance on the mound, but my team also came through with the hits when we needed them,” he said. “They moved [runners] to second when we needed them to and got them across the plate. Today was a team effort.”
After Chopticon scored twice in the bottom of the first, Zabiegalski settled in and retired 16 of the final 20 batters.
“Matt’s a dominant pitcher. In my opinion, he’s probably the best pitcher in the SMAC,” Nadolsky said. “He’s led this team the last three years and every time I put him in a big-game scenario he comes out and dominates. He just comes out and does what he does and shuts them down. He pitched to contact; he didn’t lead