By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

There was no doubt in Northwest Coach Matt Noble’s mind that he was going to start ace Dominique Vattuone against defending Maryland 4A state champion Sherwood on Monday.

But facing the Warriors for a second time this season left Vattuone a little more nervous than usual.

“I knew they were going to come after me hard,” Vattuone said. “Hitting-wise they were ready for me.”

Vattuone and Northwest still got the job done again, knocking out the defending champions, 5-3. Northwest will now face Whitman in the 4A West region semifinals Wednesday.

Vattuone allowed runners to reach at least second base in every inning he pitched, including one batter in the seventh. He surrendered five hits and two walks but struck out seven batters to limit the Warriors.

"It's exhilarating," Vattuone said.

“The defending champions coming into our house and we put them down,” added junior Bobby Donson, who closed out the game in the seventh. “It feels good.”

Third-seeded Northwest (12-3) beat Sherwood, 7-1, on April 2 but the Warriors didn’t feel like that was anywhere close to their best performance.

The Jaguars proved they were for real again, knocking Sherwood in the mouth with three runs in the bottom of the first inning after the Warriors stranded a runner on second base.

Junior Chris Rados led off the inning with a walk, then Warriors starter Ted Fletcher plunked Nick Karis and senior third baseman Nick Loftus beat out an infield single to load the bases.

Cleanup-hitting catcher John Krahling walked to force home a run, Vattuone hit a sacrifice fly and one more run scored when an attempt to throw out a base stealer at second sailed into center field, making the score 3-0.

Sherwood rallied with an RBI single by Gary Mullings in the third but Northwest responded when sophomore Jeffrey Ta laced a single to right-center to drive in two runs and give Northwest a 5-1 lead.

“I was just trying to get a hit,” Ta said. “I tried to do whatever I could.”

The Warriors scored a run in the sixth on a groundout by Fletcher and again put the pressure on in the seventh. Vattuone was pulled after he walked the leadoff hitter Tommy Barksdale on four pitches, bringing Donson to the mound.

“Coming into tight spots, trying to take it all in an take deep breaths,” Donson said. “I just told him, ‘Dom, I’ve got your back. We’re moving on.’”

Sherwood scored one run on a passed ball and had a runner on second with one out and the tying run at the plate in the form of cleanup hitter Will Bouey. Donson, who has pitched well lately out of the bullpen, got Bouey to bounce back to the mound and he caught Anthony Papio looking at strike three for the final out.

“I tip my hat,” Sherwood Coach Billy Goodman said. “They beat me twice. … We couldn’t get that one hit to peck away at it.”

Northwest beat Whitman, 6-4, on April 17 and has bested all the county’s top teams except for one. Quince Orchard defeated the Jaguars, 5-2, on March 30. If Northwest beats Whitman, it could face the Cougars in the region finals.

“These guys have a good mindset,” Noble said. “The only good team we haven’t beat is Quince Orchard. We’ve beaten the other big dogs so they’re confident.”