Fort Hill, Mtn. Ridge open West Region playoffs today

May 9—POTOMAC PARK — Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge open the Maryland Class 1A West Region I baseball playoffs today.

The Sentinels (8-9), seeded fourth in the region, play host to the fifth-seeded Miners (2-14) at 5:15 p.m. at the Hot Stove Complex.

That matchup is the lone region quarterfinal game in the five-team subregion. The winner will be at top-seeded Allegany (18-2) on Saturday in the region semifinals.

Second-seeded Southern (11-8) hosts third-seeded Northern (10-7) on Saturday at noon in the other region semi.

The region championship will be Tuesday. The team that emerges will move on the state quarterfinals on Friday, May 17, to be played at the site of the higher-seeded team.

The state semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, at a neutral site, which has been McCurdy Field in Frederick the last several years.

Fort Hill looks for next step

The Sentinels defeated Mountain Ridge, 10-7, in the teams' only other regular-season meeting.

The victory snapped Fort Hill's 21-game conference losing streak and marked its first ever Western Maryland Athletic Conference win since the league was formed in 2020.

It was Fort Hill's first conference win since 2019 when it defeated Mountain Ridge in its penultimate regular-season bout.

Fort Hill is now looking to end another long streak, as the Sentinels are trying today for their first playoff win since the same year. They beat Hancock, 4-1, in their postseason opener before being eliminated by Northern.

The Big Red batting order boasts six hitters batting at least .300. Logan VanMeter leads the squad with a .420 clip, followed by Steven Spencer (.370), Bobby Brauer (.365), Bryson Metz (.356), Cam'Ron Davis (.323) and Carson Bender (.304).

Brauer has a team-leading 16 RBIs and Spencer has scored a Fort Hill-best 16 runs.

Brauer, a right-handed freshman, has a team-leading 1.83 earned-run average in 30 2/3 innings pitched. Bender (2.24 ERA, 25 innings pitched) and Spencer (3.71 ERA, 22 2/3 IP) have also been consistent options.

Freshman John Delaney tops Mountain Ridge with a .417 batting average. Parker Ferraro (.360) and Garrett Michaels (.313) also have marks north of .300.

Mountain Ridge did not submit pitching statistics. Ferraro, a right-hander, is the expected starter today.

The Miners and Sentinels played one inning on Monday before the game was stopped due to rain. Mountain Ridge led 1-0 at the time with one out in the top of the second.

Allegany is region favorite

Allegany is the odds-on favorite to emerge from the region after entering the postseason riding a 16-game winning streak.

The Campers won the WestMAC for the third year in a row with an 8-0 record and have won each of their past 11 games by at least six runs.

Allegany most recently won the region title in 2022 when it routed Mountain Ridge, 16-3, in Cumberland. The Campers' season ended with a 1-0 loss to eventual state champion Clear Spring in the state semis.

Last year, Allegany again entered the region playoffs as the top seed but was knocked out by Northern, 6-5, in a nine-inning thriller in the title game. The Huskies fell in the state semifinals to Colonel Richardson.

In three years under manager Jon Irons, Allegany has a 51-9 record.

This season's Campers boast a pitching staff with three arms within the top-10 in the area in lowest earned-run average.

RHP Bryce Madden, a Glenville State signee, has a 4-1 record with a 0.89 ERA, 45 strikeouts and 12 walks in 31 1/3 innings pitched.

Allegany has yet to lose a game with right-hander Myles Bascelli on the bump, as the junior has an 8-0 record and 0.90 ERA in a team-high 39 innings pitched. He tops Alco with 61 strikeouts and has walked 20.

Righty Caden Long, a Frostburg State signee, is 10th in the area with a 2.46 ERA with 59 Ks in 37 innings of work.

Caedon Wallace (Allegany College) leads the Allegany line-up with seven home runs and 32 RBIs, and Bryce Madden has scored a team-best 27 runs and leads the squad with 12 extra-base hits.

Madden (.450), Wallace (.446), Kohen Madden (.424), Jackson Resh (.367), Eli Imes (.356) and Bascelli (.302) have batting averages above .300.

Garrett County rubber match

After splitting a pair of regular-season games, Southern and Northern meet Saturday for a rubber match.

Southern won the first meeting in Oakland, 6-5, on a walk-off hit by Jack Healy on April 19 — which began a string of four walk-off victories in seven days by the Rams.

Ben Lohr had the winning hit against Frankfort and Kasey Reckart walked off Petersburg with a bunt in Southern's next two games. Following a run-rule loss to Allegany, Jared Haskiell gave the Rams their biggest win of the year with a walk-off hit against the area's top team in Keyser, 5-4.

However, Southern ended the season losing 5 of 6, including a 4-3 defeat at Northern on May 1 in Accident. Jacob Chambers had the game's big hit, a two-run home run in the sixth inning.

Northern has quietly bounced back from a 5-7 start with five consecutive wins to end the year.

Southern is likely to throw its ace Jared Haskiell, who enters the playoffs with a team-best 2.08 ERA and a 1-2 record. The right-hander has struck out 46 and walked 13 in 33 2/3 innings of work.

Northern's best arm has been Left-hander Robert Deatelhauser throughout the year. Deatelhauser has a 6-0 record and 1.54 ERA with 44 strikeouts and 11 walks in 41 innings pitched.

If Northern decides to hold Deatelhauser for a possible region championship matchup with Allegany, then it'll likely throw Luke Ross (5.62 ERA, 23 2/3 IP) or Kyle Broadwater (3.27 ERA, 15 IP), both right-handed pitchers.

Deatelhauser threw 5 1/3 shutout innings in the region championship last year against Allegany.

Broadwater is the lone senior on the pitching staff. Deatelhauser and Ross are both juniors.

Haskiell leads Southern with a .370 batting average, followed by Reece Tasker at .356 and Lohr at .311. Tasker, a catcher, tops the squad with four home runs, 16 RBIs and 14 runs scored.

Northern is led by Ross with a .390 clip at the plate. Wally Brands (.377), Cole Folk (.353) and Broadwater (.325) have averages over .300. Liam Stewart just missed the mark at .296.

Ross leads Northern in runs scored (22) and runs batted in (13).