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In a state of disappointment

Mt. Airy ousted early in American Legion state tournament

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo bill ryan⁄the gazette Greg Beachy (left) of Garrett Post 71⁄214 forces Mt. Airy Post 191 runner Robbie Mathias at second base Friday during the American Legion state baseball tournament at McCurdy Field in Frederick. Mt. Airy lost the game, 9-7, and was eliminated two days later by Dorchester Post 91, 9-8.

After a 12-4 season in the Western Maryland District and an outright district title, it marked the end of a surprisingly short stay for Mt. Airy in the double-elimination event at McCurdy Field.

It was the second loss in which Post 191 had uncharacteristic poor starting pitching, with Urbana High alumnus Steve Smith yielding nine runs (seven earned) on 13 hits in just 5 1⁄3 innings.

And it came despite a three-run comeback effort in the ninth, sparked by a two-run triple from Aaron Gabrielian and a run-scoring single from Robbie Mathias, before Dorchester’s Aaron Thomas got the save.

But as players packed up their bags and shed their jerseys beneath a sweltering sun and muggy sky Sunday, Friday’s opening 9-7 loss to Garrett Post 71⁄214 still stung worse.‘‘That first day killed us,” Gabrielian said. ‘‘If we would’ve won that, it would’ve been a different story. The team we were playing we should’ve beaten, I think. And if we win that game we’ve got more momentum.”

Said Post 191 manager George Richardson: ‘‘The one on Friday upset me more. Because these kids today, I thought swung the bat better. We played a little bit better today, actually, than both days.”

Friday, Post 191 stranded 12 base runners, dooming struggling starter Wes Szymanski, who gave up eight runs in five-plus innings.

Saturday, they again stranded 12 before Ryan Murray’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth gave Mt. Airy a 2-1 win over Gaithersburg Post 295. Post 191 had starter Jimmy Mudgett to thank, who struck out 11 and allowed no earned runs in a complete-game effort.

‘‘Usually, I just feel like my team is going to score for me,” Mudgett said. ‘‘I figured they would, and they did.”

But they couldn’t score enough for Smith, who never looked sharp, on Sunday. He got behind for good when Hunter Wessells’ two-run triple broke a 1-1 tie in the third, before Aaron Thomas drove Wessells in with a single.

Smith gave up three more in the fourth to make it 7-2, when he was hurt by errors from shortstop Brian Paulhus and second baseman Andrew Bizjak.

Run-scoring singles from Bizjak and Rice, and a sacrifice fly from Gabrielian made it 7-5 in the fifth inning. But Richardson elected to stay with Smith in the sixth, and paid for it when Eric Willey’s two-run home run to dead center made it 9-5.

‘‘I probably should’ve taken him out earlier,” said Richardson. ‘‘But you know, when he’s one of your top pitchers, you have a little faith in him that he’s going to pick it up.”

Richardson finally did bring on Carl Huber, who gave up one hit in 2 2⁄3 innings while striking out four, two days after allowing one run in four innings of relief on Friday.

But it was too late for his club and for Smith, who from the first inning could tell he didn’t have his best stuff.

‘‘It was just one of those days,” Smith said. ‘‘You can’t be good every day.”

Gabrielian led Post 191 with three RBI, going 1 for 4. Rice, who had been arguably Mt. Airy’s best hitter the second half of the season, went 2-6 with a double and an RBI, and reached twice on errors.

Jacob Garvey got the win for Dorchester, giving up three runs, all in the ninth inning, in four innings of relief. Thomas’ save was his first of the season.