by Andy Sussman

Huntley Mitchell had himself quite a game for Boys' Latin, on Friday, in a tense MIAA B Conference Baseball Tournament contest.

In front of a supportive home crowd, the Lakers' center-fielder hit two doubles and a dramatic walk-off grand slam to hand the Lakers a 7-3, 10-inning victory over Friends School, sending his team to the winners' bracket final of the MIAA B Conference Baseball Tournament. 

Mitchell, a junior, was one of three Boys Latin (17-3) players to hit home runs yesterday, all of them clearing the fence easily.  Right fielder Kevin Daley hit a shot to left in the third inning and shortstop Austin Knight hit a game-tying homerun with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to take the game to extra innings, one of his four hits in five at-bats.

Despite the final score, Boys' Latin and Friends had a pitching duel for most of the game.  Laker senior Devon Jerrard and Quaker sophomore Matt Vaselkiv each threw seven solid innings, allowing three earned runs. 

The score was locked at 2-2 until the top of the seventh inning when senior left-fielder Bradley Kolodner hit a go-ahead RBI double for Friends, his third hit of the day.  Vaselkiv got the first two Boys' Latin batters out in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Knight, a senior, hit a deep shot that Friends coach Tom Randall said “probably went about 430-feet” to straightaway centerfield.

In extra innings, the pitcher’s duel resumed with relievers for both teams, Boys' Latin senior Reese Hale and Friends junior Kelly Dayton.  Hale threw three scoreless innings, allowing just one base runner.  Dayton was equally dominant in the eighth and ninth innings, but shortstop Knight led off the bottom of the tenth with a single, beginning a Laker rally. 

Later in the tenth, with the bases loaded and one out, Mitchell hit a deep fly ball to right-center that went too far for the Quaker outfielders to grab.  Mitchell was mobbed at the plate by his teammates and coaches, including head coach and former Baltimore Oriole Mike Bordick.

Boys' Latin now hosts St. Vincent Pallotti, today at noon, in a battle for the first spot in the tournament finals, which begin on Wednesday (4:00 pm) at Ripken Stadium.  Pallotti defeated defending champion St. Mary's, 5-4, yesterday, as the Panthers attempt to return to Ripken Stadium, where they won consecutive B Conference titles in 2005 and 2006.

Also today, Friends will meet Park at Calvert Hall (9:00 am) and St. Mary's will host Chapelgate Christian, at Gambrills, in the first two elimination games of the tournament.  The losers will see their season end, while the winners will face each other on Monday in another elimination contest.  The Boys' Latin/Pallotti loser will then host the winner of Monday's game for the second spot in the finals.  If the undefeated team should lose the first game of the finals, the championship will be settled on Thursday at Ripken Stadium.

MIAA B Conference Baseball Playoffs

Boys Latin 7, Friends 3
F      010 100 100 0  -  3  8  0
BL    101 001 100 4  -  7 10 1
Vaselkiv, Dayton (8), and Nislow; Jerrard, Hale (8), and Schoenfeld.
2B: F-Koldner; BL--Mitchell (2), Knight. 
HR: BL-Daley, Knight, Mitchell.
WP-Hale   LP-Dayton