Baseball: Atholton Ends Reservoir's Perfect Season, Advances

Round three of the Maryland State 3A playoffs began Friday afternoon at the home of the undefeated Reservoir High Gators. But that 21-0 record didn’t scare the visiting Atholton Raiders who ended the Gators win streak and their season with a 7-4 victory.

“My hat goes off to [Reservoir], they had a great season,” said Atholton Coach Kevin Kelly. “I’ve been coaching in this league 21 years and I don’t remember another team going undefeated so it’s quite an accomplishment. It’s a shame someone had to lose this game.”

Atholton had lost to Reservoir in a nail biting 2-1 game on April 15. That win ended the Raiders' perfect season and they returned the favor on Friday. They will now play for a regional championship on Saturday at James M. Bennett High School, in Salisbury.

The game could not have started off on a better note for Atholton when on the first pitch of the game, Kory Britton teed off on a Kyle Alexander curveball to immediately put the Raiders up 1-0. For Britton it was his sixth homer of the year and second in two days. He would be walked in his next three plate appearances, including twice intentionally.

“I was honestly expecting a fastball and I read his arm pretty good and it was a nice curveball up in the zone,” Britton said. “I just turned on it with a nice easy swing and hit it up in the air and it just kept carrying.”

The big blow of the game came after a Britton intentional walk in the sixth inning when junior Josh Martin came through with a bases loaded two-out double that scored all three runners and put Atholton up 7-3.

“I was just sitting in the back of the box looking for a fastball and I drove it to the opposite field,” Martin said. “I haven’t been doing a good job hitting behind [Britton] all year and I told him ‘I’m going to get his back one time’ and I knew I had to do it for the team.”

Senior Paul Beers went six strong innings for the Raiders giving up four runs on five hits while striking out three. Senior Jon Thews came in and got the save in the seventh, retiring the 7-9 hitters in order.

“Paul’s a very good pitcher and was able to gather and come back and do good things,” said Kelly. “He was getting a little tired and Jon was fresh and you wonder sometimes if it’s the right thing to do and I guess it was the right thing.”

After being down 1-0, Reservoir came back in the third and took their only lead in the game. Lee Lawler started the inning by getting on base with a hit-by-pitch and eventually scored on a one-out single by Geoff Stone. Bryan Davidson then replaced Stone on a fielder’s choice and, after stealing second, gave the Gators the lead on a single by Kevin Alexander. Alexander then scored on a Danny Klein hit, giving Reservoir the 3-1 lead.

But Atholton came right back in the top of the fourth and plated their first three batters after Thews and Paul Burmester began the inning with singles. They then each moved up a base on a balk, and a walk to Jake Yasenka loaded up the bases. Thews scored on a Jordan Thompson groundout and Brady Acker brought home the other two with a double.

With Atholton up 4-3, Reservoir was able to get some momentum going in the bottom of the fifth inning. T.J. Pipik led off with a single and moved to second on a bunt by Stone. But the next batter was Davidson who blooped a pitch into right field where a sliding catch was made and the throw to second was able to double-up Pipik to end the inning.

The three-run double by Martin in the next inning clinched the game for Atholton. They will travel about two hours to James M. Bennett to play for a regional championship. Britton is scheduled to be the starting pitcher.