In the span of an inning, the North Harford baseball team’s Class 2A state title aspirations went from hopeful to troubling before finally ending via a 5-2 loss to Parkside in a state semifinal at Joe Cannon Stadium on Tuesday.

After both teams squandered early scoring opportunities, the Hawks scratched out two runs in the bottom of the third inning, but the Rams rallied for five runs in the top of the fourth and never looked back, thanks largely to the pitching of left-hander Tanner Trudeau, to punch their ticket to Saturday’s 2A state final.

“My main goal was to just keep staying consistent,” said Trudeau, who struck out five and scattered six hits in his complete-game effort to improve to 4-1 on the season. “In my opinion, I have the greatest defense in the Bayside [Conference], and I know they can make plays. I trust them fully.”

The Rams (16-5) looked to strike first in the top of the first as the first two Parkside batters reached on an error and a single, but North Harford starter Matt Hart worked out of that early threat by throwing out the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Garrett Jones, before getting Chase Hurley to fly out to shallow right, and striking out Chase Shepherd to end the inning.

Hart had a chance to do some offensive damage in the bottom of the first, but his line drive to second base turned into an inning-ending double play. The Hawks, however, were able to capitalize on a single, hit batter, wild pitch and a run-scoring ground out by Tucker Deal for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Jedd Carll then added to the lead with a double down the left field line.

“We’ve struggled a little bit [in recent years], but this year, we were 18-4 coming into this game,” Hawks coach Jeffrey Burrows said. “I’m proud of this senior class, who built this program back up. The future is super bright. I’m not expecting to be back here, but I think we’ve got a good chance.

“I’m proud we’re back on the track. We were here a lot in 2012 and `13 and `15 and ‘21, and we haven’t been back, so I’m proud of the direction of this team.”

The Rams, after being sent down in order by Hart in the third and fourth innings, struck for five runs on run-scoring singles by Shepherd and Josh Smith and a two-run double to deep right field by Trudeau as part of five straight hits to start the inning. After a sacrifice bunt moved Trudeau’s courtesy runner to third, Canaan Mapp stroked a sacrifice fly to deep right field for the final 5-2 lead.

“[It was] a lot of bloop hits and missing a little bit,” Hart said. “That’s about it. [Trudeau threw] a lot of curveballs, and [he was] hitting the spots and doing his thing.”

Speaking of Trudeau, he stranded a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the fourth with a strike out of Nathaniel Burd.

Hawks relief pitcher Collin Kight did likewise in the top of the fifth, getting out of a potential jam through a 6-4-3 double play. And he did it again in the fifth, this time on an infield fly out to keep North Harford within striking distance, but Trudeau limited his opponents to just two baserunners in the final three innings.

“We’ve been a pitching-dominant team [but] today, we needed more offense,” Burrows said. “We needed the bats to pick up for the pitching staff, and we couldn’t quite get there. We were hitting the ball kind of hard, but we were hitting it in the air enough. We didn’t hit a lot of ground balls today. That one inning got us.”

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