Reminiscent of the ongoing NBA playoffs, the Fallston baseball team used a stunningly explosive 20-3 “run” to turn a 7-4 deficit into a 24-10 Class 2A East Region I first-round playoff victory against host C. Milton Wright on Thursday afternoon.
In doing so, the Cougars (11-7) scored in just about every conceivable way, including bases-loaded walks and hit batsmen, errors, base hits — and even a grand slam. They produced 10 runs in the pivotal fourth inning and eight more in the seventh to put the game away and book a trip to Saturday’s region quarterfinals against host and top-seeded North Harford (13-4).
The Mustangs end the season at 10-9.
“It was a stressful playoff game,” said Cougars coach Grant Morlock, whose squad will square off with the Hawks at 10 a.m. Saturday. “We fell behind twice. We were down 4-1 in the second and 7-4 in the third, and we’ve been in games like this a lot throughout the year. We played a tough out-of-conference schedule. We played some tough competition, and we’re battle tested. We’re ready for those spots.”
After opening up a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on back-to-back hits by Zach Loewe and Carter Flanagan, the Cougars quickly fell behind by three runs in the bottom half of the inning on a bases-loaded walk by Dustin Stem, a wild pitch, and a two-run ground rule double off the bat of Eric Penney (2-for-5, 3 RBIs).
Continuing that early back-and-forth play, Fallston catcher Joey Potler singled and eventually reached home on an error to trim the lead to 4-2. Garrett Kersch then crossed the plate on a well executed double steal to cut the deficit to one all in the top of the second. Reese Conley tied the contest in the third on a single to right field. That base hit came two batters after Santoro doubled to left field.
Not to be outdone, Penney followed a one-out walk with a run-scoring double to left center field to score Stem and retake the lead at 5-4 in the third. Stem broke to second on the pitch and scored from first. Three batters later, Tyler Adamo worked a bases-loaded walk and Chris Dietz scored on a wild pitch to extend that advantage to 7-4.
“We stayed in it and didn’t give up,” said Santoro, who collected three hits, four RBIs and four runs out of the No. 3 spot in Fallston’s lineup. “We kept putting bats on balls and finding holes.”
That was never more the case than in the top of the fourth as the Cougars exploded for 10 runs on the strength of a pair of two-run singles by Santoro, a run-scoring single by Conley, two bases-loaded walks, a bases-loaded hit batsman, a bases-loaded infield single by Kersch, and a wild pitch for a commanding 14-7 lead.
“I was very hyped this game,” Santoro said. “They gave me a lot of good pitches to hit, and I got the bat on the ball.”
The Mustangs pushed a run across the plate in the fourth on an error but a baserunning mistake that led to an unconventional double play limited the rally. Kersch, however, erased that run with a single up the middle to score Potler’s courtesy runner.
Stem and Diez continued the wild scoring affair with run scoring singles for the Mustangs in the fifth to trim the deficit to 16-10, but eight runs by Fallston in the top of the seventh, highlighted by Aiden Stromberger’s grand slam over the left field fence and two RBIs by Loewe put the contest out of reach.
“Seemed like Fallston hit a couple on the screws and when maybe they didn’t necessarily tear the cover off the ball, the ball seemed to find the spot, and we seemed to have trouble throwing strikes and made some mental mistakes,” C. Milton Wright coach Rich DeNardi, whose squad issued 12 walks in the contest. “It kind of snowballed. I still thought when we were down six, 16-10, I said, `All we have to do is get some guys on, somebody hits a double, somebody walks, and they kick the ball,’ but that didn’t happen.
“We were a young team. We graduate four seniors. We’ll have a lot of competition for spots. We have our Nos. 1 and 2 (pitchers) coming back next year.”
Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Anthony Maluso at amaluso@baltsun.com, 567-230-6024, x.com/TonySunSports and instagram.com/TonySunSports.
Leave A Comment