Barons start slow, close fast

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Barons start slow, close fast

by James Peters | Staff Writer

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Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s 8-7 season-ending loss to Paint Branch High during last Thursday’s 3A West Region baseball semifinals played out much like the team’s season as a whole: A slow start, a sharp turnaround and then a narrow miss at reaching the regional championship.

Facing the fourth-seeded Panthers in Burtonsville, the Barons fell behind by as many as three runs early in the game and rallied for a late 7-6 lead before falling 8-7 through two runs by Paint Branch (12-7) in the bottom of the fifth inning to end the team’s hopes of playing Seneca Valley (13-6), the eventual regional champions, for the 3A West title.

In similar fashion, the Barons, under first-year coach Jonas Singer, won just one of their first six games but closed the regular season with eight wins in their final 10. They continued that success with playoff wins of 4-3 against Urbana and 5-4 over top-seeded Frederick to reach last Thursday’s contest.

‘‘This was a microcosm of our season today,” Singer said. ‘‘This team has got a lot of character. They just started standing up when games are tight and learned how to win. They didn’t let being behind in games or giving up runs rattle them.”

The Panthers opened up a 1-0 advantage after one inning on a run-scoring single by Travis Hart, the team’s cleanup hitter. The inning could have been much worse, but starting pitcher Brooks Coe got out of the inning without giving up more runs despite loading the bases with one out.

The Barons came back to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the second on a run-scoring triple by Matt Betchel and a run-scoring single by Joey Willman. Paint Branch answered back with a three-run second inning for a 5-2 advantage. Frankie Poulos (2 for 3, three runs, triple) knocked in two runs with a single to center field and Hart doubled in a run as nine batters came to the plate, chasing Coe from the game.

B-CC rallied for three runs of their own in the top of the third to knot the game at 5. Tyler Henry (2 for 4) smacked a two-run triple to center field and Austin Ziskie singled him in. Paint Branch retook the lead in the top of the fourth on a triple by Michael Brown before two runs on a Nick Sevilla single up the middle with the infield in gave the Barons a short-lived 7-6 advantage in the top of the fifth.

‘‘We’ve had a lot of close games and we usually come through at the end,” Henry said. ‘‘It’s harder than I can say. It’s real tough [to lose at the end].”

In the bottom of the fifth, Ricky LaSota (3 for 3, two runs) doubled and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Todd Schultz. Poulos then walked to put runners on the corners. Jordan Tidwell tied the score with a run-scoring groundout that brought home LaSota. Poulos moved to third on the play and scored on a pitch in the dirt by Henry. Poulos broke as the ball hit the dirt and barely beat the tag by Barons catcher Alex Cole at the plate for the 8-7 lead.