County contenders shoot for Frederick in 3A West baseball

Frederick’s main competition will likely come from Damascus, which went on to win the 3A state title in 2000, and Paint Branch. The two played each other Monday (in a game completed too late to be included in the edition of The Gazette) with winner earning the region’s second seed.

A loss by the Panthers would probably drop it back to No. 4 while the Swarmin’ Hornets would likely stay at No. 3 with a loss. Bethesda-Chevy Chase is also in the mix at 8-6.

‘‘I think if we can play good defense [we can win],” Paint Branch coach Tom Rey said. ‘‘We’ve been hitting the ball well and our pitchers are doing well. It’s nice to have 3-5 guys who can throw any time against any team. Having all of those games back to back, it allowed guys to throw who normally wouldn’t throw. That will help us in the playoffs.”

Travis Hart and Frankie Poulos anchor that balanced staff with a combined five wins through last week’s 6-1 loss to Clarksburg, while also hitting well over .400 for the season as were Kurt Pung and Michael Brown.

The Swarmin’ Hornets entered the final week of the regular season playing their best baseball of the season. Brad Johnson, a left-handed hitting junior outfielder, is finally finding the power stroke Coach Jim McManus expected from him all season. He blasted three home runs in two games last week, including a game-winning two-run shot against Poolesville (8-7).

‘‘We have to hit,” McManus said. ‘‘We have to have timely hitting. We’ll go through innings where we won’t do anything than explode. I’ve told the guys we have to hit a little more consistent. I don’t have the team we had last year where everybody stroked the baseball. We play good defense and we have some really good pitching.”

Like Damascus, Seneca Valley began the week on fire, having won six in a row after dropping one close contest after another to open the season. It has done so largely behind the play of middle infielders Mike Williamson (.300) and Stephan Gross (.350), who is playing with a cast on his left thumb that he broke when falling rounding third base on a triple.

‘‘We started winning some of the close ones,” Seneca coach Terry Changuris said. ‘‘Four of those six losses were by one run. All of sudden all of those tough games paid off. We’re not a great team but we’re a good team and I think we’re learning how to win. Playing that top competition [early on] made us better.”

Bethesda-Chevy Chase, the last county team to reach the 3A West final, doing so in 2004, is also a serious contender with its mix of a talented pitching staff led by Austin Ziskie and Tyler Henry, and a stingy defense. The Barons started the week with seven wins in their last eight games.

‘‘I think our pitching has to stay consistent,” first-year B-CC coach Jonas Singer said. ‘‘Pitching is the name of the game and we have good pitching depth [and] our defense has been very, very solid. We need those to keep going and we have to get some offensive production for us to win.”

Leading the rest of the county’s contingent is Kennedy (6-7), which is having one of its best seasons in years. Wheaton (2-11) and Einstein (1-14) have fallen back because of heavy graduation losses after strong 2007 campaigns, while Watkins Mill (2-11) has continued last year’s struggles.

3A West Region playoffs

Favorites: Frederick (15-4), Damascus (10-4), Paint Branch (9-5)

Contenders: Seneca Valley (8-6), Bethesda-Chevy Chase (8-6)

Darkhorses: Urbana (7-10), Kennedy (6-7)

Players to watch: Travis Hart (Paint Branch, Sr., P-3B), Frankie Poulos (Paint Branch, Jr., OF-P), Michael Brown (Paint Branch, Sr., C), Brad Johnson (Damascus, Sr., OF), Shane Boyd (Damascus, Sr., CF), Mike Williamson (Seneca Valley, Sr., SS), Stephan Gross (Seneca Valley, Sr., 2B)