Atholton keeps season alive with late comeback over Northeast; 4-3

by Jim Bach

A steady downpour began in the sixth inning as the Northeast Eagles took a late 3-2 lead, but the rain let up just in time for Atholton to orchestrate a two-run, seventh inning comeback, capped off by outfielder Corey Stirmer's game-winning sacrifice fly.

"I knew the situation, I knew that one run would win it and I was trying to get a hard ground ball," said Stirmer "He threw an outside pitch on the corner and I just tried to turn hard on it, get the lift on it and it ended up happening."

The senior was hitting at the number two spot for injured teammate Wes Hand, and took advantage of the spotlight to become the game's hero.

Atholton had the lead early after Chris Acker hit an RBI single to score Kory Britton in the first, but Northeast answered back in the third when second baseman Josh Emge hit a two-out triple to later score off catcher Brandon Haney's single.

Third baseman Zack Richardson then got his second hit of the game, batting in Haney to put the game at 2-1 by the third inning's end.

The Eagles held the lead until the sixth, when Acker pushed a ball to the outfield to bring home Stirmer on sacrifice fly for a 2-2 deadlock.

Northeast responded in the next inning when centerfielder Jeff Marsh collected his third RBI in two games to put the Eagles at a one-run advantage.

Atholton had done it many times before in the season, and would need another comeback in the last inning to keep their season alive. Pitcher Jonathan Thews set the table with a walk to open the seventh.

Second baseman Jared Hand couldn't get the bunt down, but faced his two-strike disadvantage with a single that put men on first and second. Pinch hitter Nick Donohue then managed to get the sacrifice down to advance both runners in to scoring position.

Britton performed in the clutch when his hit scored Thews to tie the game. Stirmer followed immediately after with his sacrifice fly as Atholton edged out a 4-3 win.

On the day the Raiders saw two-hit games out of both Britton and Acker. Acker has gone 8 of his last 9 (.889 batting average) and continues to stay hot down the stretch.

Thews took the mound for his first playoff appearance, and did so masterfully. The sophomore went six and two-thirds innings, striking out four and collecting the win before Acker came in to close the door.

"I was a little nervous in the beginning," admitted Thews. "I just hit my spots and threw my curveball in there, and let the umpire work."

"I'm really proud of Jon Thews, he's a tenth grader out there in a playoff game," said Atholton coach Kevin Kelly. "Wes [Hand] was going to pitch today, but with [Hand] getting hurt it really put [Thews] up against the nets out there."

Northeast got a solid pitching performance out of starter Kyle Bush. The senior went six innings before he was relieved by Emge, striking out three and allowing four runs. Despite the quality outing, he took the loss.

Offensively, the Eagles looked to Zack Richardson and Jeff Marsh, who each had two hits and an RBI apiece. Marsh performed in the clutch again this game, but it came to no avail as the defense couldn't hold off the Raider bats in the last inning.

"We're a program that preaches execution, and today we did not execute. We missed signs, we didn't execute our bunting, we didn't execute our hitting," said Northeast head coach Adam Boling. "Hats off to [Atholton], they played well today, they hit the ball around like we thought they would and we came out on the losing end of it."

Northeast finished off the season 11-9, and will not advance in the 3A Regionals. However, the team expects big things for the future.

"We're returning a lot of guys next year, and we had a talented JV team that went 15-1 this season," added Coach Boling.

Atholton on the other hand, will match up with Fallston this Wednesday for a strong match-up to determine the Regional Finalists.

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