TOURNAMENT
top teams in the state and their coach, Eric Milton, was my roommate in college and played for several major league teams, including the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins. We’ve really improved tremendously since the start of the season and today we played a close game against a quality opponent.”
Wilkerson had staked the youthful Hurricanes to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first courtesy of his two-out, two-run blast. But Huntingtown squandered the advantage in the top of the third as Severna Park plated three runs, one earned, against Hurricanes’ sophomore hurler Logan Hastings. The Falcons extended the lead to 5-2 in the sixth, but Huntingtown trimmed the gap to one run by answering with a pair of runs in the home half of the frame.
“I thought both of my pitchers today threw well and hit their spots,” Wilkerson said. “They both pitched well. We just had a couple of mistakes, but we were right there with one of the best teams in the state. We can compete with anyone in this league.”
Hastings was eventually handed a tough-luck loss while allowing three runs, one earned, in four complete innings of work on Saturday morning while being kept on a pitch count of 60 tosses. One of
the cornerstone pieces of the Hurricanes’ future as a sophomore, Hastings was content with his effort and is already looking forward to future contests with Chopticon, Northern and Patuxent.
“We have a really young team, but we’re still able to compete with the top teams in our league,” Hastings said. “Today we played one of the best teams in the state and we battled with them all seven innings. We had a couple of mistakes, but we’re a young team. We know we can compete with anyone.”
Huntingtown watched its early 2-0 lead devolve into a 5-2 deficit when the Falcons
added two runs against Hurricanes’ reliever Cole Roschel in the top of the sixth. But Huntingtown immediately answered as Austin Ferreira drove in Trevor Robbins with a sacrifice fly to right then Cole Romano, who earlier doubled leading off the third, singled home Kyle Norvell to trim the gap to 5-4.
Severna Park was unable to add to its tepid advantage in the top of the seventh, but the Hurricanes were unable to get the equalizer against Falcons’ closer Sean Williams, who retired the side in order to collect the save. Clay Weaver allowed two runs in three innings of relief but re
corded the win for Severna Park, while Hastings took the loss despite four solid innings.
Shortly after edging Huntingtown, Severna Park topped Calvert High School 9-3 in the middle game of the three-game round robin, then the Hurricanes rebounded from their narrow setback to the Falcons to top the Cavaliers 14-4 in the finale.