Eight was not enough for North East. Elkton clawed out of an eight-run hole and eventually scored the game-winning run in the eighth to claim the District 5 Senior League baseball title with an improbable 9-8 triumph over North East Friday night in Rising Sun. Ethan Wolfe led off the bottom of the eighth with an infield single up the middle. Jeremy Mullins grounded to third. The throw pulled the first baseman off the bag and Wolfe scooted to third to put runners on the corners. Mullins then stole second without a throw. That brought Andrew Lorman to the plate. With Wolfe breaking for home when the pitch was delivered, Lorman laid a bunt down the third base line and Wolfe easily scored the district-winning run.
An Elkton victory seemed unlikely when North East stormed out to an 8-0 lead. Eric Steele and Zach Chadwick each delivered an RBI single in the first. North East tacked on five more in the second. Patrick O'Brien hit an RBI single past the second baseman, who was moving to cover the bag on a stolen base attempt. Steele supplied a two-run single to make it 5-0. Chase Hollister drove in a run on a grounder and reached on an error. After a Chase Klein single, Tyeler Buchanan was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. North East led 8-0 entering the bottom of the fourth before Lorman got Elkton on the board with an RBI single. Elkton exploded for seven runs in the fifth to tie the game. John Kivlin, who did an outstanding job in relief to earn the win, had two hits hits in the inning. He led off with a double and later added a two-run single to narrow the gap to 8-6. Austin Goudeaux followed with an RBI single up the middle to tie the game. Both teams nearly scored in the seventh. North East has the bases loaded with one out. Hollister hit a grounder to the right side. The Elkton second baseman Andrew Simpson came racing in and to his left, fielded the ball, and then turned and fired toward the plate. The runner was ruled out on a force play. North East argued the close call to no avail. Elkton had the bases loaded with two outs in the home half. Colin Harkey bunted toward third. North East pitcher Alex Goodyear pounced on it and threw to first to nail Harkey on another close play. This time, Elkton was left to question the ruling. Elkton got another chance in the bottom of the eighth and completed the comeback. It was a quick turnaround for Elkton, which had to travel to West Salisbury Saturday to open state tournament play. When the state tournament was moved up a week at the last minute, the district tournament became single elimination. Elkton lost 11-1 to Talbot Saturday in the state tournament opener. Elkton also lost to Talbot in a first round state tourney game last year before running the table to win the state title. Comments are closed.
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