North East advanced to the championship round of the District 5 Major Division baseball tournament with a thrilling 8-6 win over Rising Sun in seven innings Wednesday night. North East wriggled out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the sixth then tallied twice in the top of the seventh to pull out the dramatic victory. Rising Sun rallied for four runs in the fifth to tie the game and then had a golden opportunity to end it in the sixth. Gavin Patterson reached when he struck out on a ball in the dirt which skipped past the catcher to the backstop. Patterson stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jack Henderson laid down a bunt which was fielded by pitcher Brooks Jacobsen. Jacobsen looked toward third to freeze Patterson, but did not to throw to first. North East elected to issue an intentional walk to Luke Trout to load the bases. Ben Adams hit a liner which was caught by the second baseman, who fired to first to double off the runner for the second out of the inning. Layne Hull was walked intentionally and the next hitter was retired on a grounder to second to end the inning.
North East's Colby Barlok led off the top of the seventh with a bouncing single up the middle. That was the only hit of the inning. After the Rising Sun starter Adams was removed because he had reached his pitch limit, reliever Ryan McBride fanned the first hitter he faced. Barlok advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a groundout. Luke Keefer was walked intentionally to put runners on the corners. After Keefer stole second uncontested, Mason Newton, who started the game on the mound for North East, was also walked intentionally to load the bases. Barlok scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Following the third intentional walk of the frame, Keefer scored on a passed ball to make it 8-6. Rising Sun's Bradley Dietz led off the bottom of the seventh but a substitute runner was thrown out trying to steal second by catcher Evan England. Jacobsen got a grounder for the second out. Dawson Douglas drew a walk to keep Rising Sun alive but Jacobson whiffed the next batter to end the game. Rising Sun had to battle back the entire game after Keefer blasted a solo homer to center in the top of the first. North East added three more in the top of the third to pad the lead to 4-0. Barlok got things started with a single. Landon Knaub delivered a two-run single and Keefer followed with a run-scoring single. Rising Sun sliced the deficit in half in the fourth on a two-run single by JT Lepore. North East countered with two in the top of the fifth. Knaub plated a run with a sacrifice fly and another run scored when Keefer purposely got caught between first and second which enabled England to score ahead of a throw to the plate. In the bottom of the fifth, Adams hit a sacrifice fly and Dillon Goodwin belted a two-run homer to get Rising Sun within a run at 6-5. Dietz had a bloop single to center and a runner scored when Lepore's liner skipped past the left fielder for an RBI double. Adams worked a perfect top of the sixth to give Rising Sun an opportunity to win it with a run in the home half, but it could not capitalize. North East faces undefeated Chesapeake City Thursday night at 7. Chesapeake City can capture the district title with a victory. North East needs to win that game then defeat Chesapeake City again the following night to claim the crown. Comments are closed.
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