ACCIDENT — When Fort Hill skipper Tanner Brode took the program over three years ago, he dreamt of nights like Tuesday.
His underdog Sentinels made those dreams a reality.
With the region title on the line, Fort Hill jumped out to a 7-1 lead, the key blast a three-run homer by Brady O’Neal, and the double-barreled Resh arsenal of Colt and Coye pitched seven strong frames.
Pesky Northern loaded the bases in the seventh, but Coye Resh slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts, as No. 3 seed Fort Hill toppled top-seeded Northern, 8-2, in the Class 1A West Region I championship game.
For the first time in 28 years, Fort Hill is headed to the state baseball tournament.
“I haven’t really digested it all yet,” said Brode. “Came out guns firing. We’ve had some good rounds of (batting practice) this week and last week. So I really wasn’t too surprised with how we did at the plate. Defensively, made some nice plays in big spots. Just really thrilled for the win.”
Fort Hill (12-9-1) last made the state level in 1998 under Tom Merritt, whose Sentinels advanced to the Class 2A semifinals.
The Sentinels’ 12 victories this year are their most since 2001.
Fort Hill loaded the bases with nobody out in its first at-bat. After an RBI hit by Colt Resh and a run-scoring walk by Jake Rice, Cam Hook made it 4-0 with a seeing-eye two-run single to left.
Jake Chambers got a Northern run back with a solo home run in the bottom half of the first, but timely hits for the Huskies (14-7) were few and far between.
Northern left 12 runners on base to Fort Hill’s eight.
“We got guys on against (Colt) Resh, who was throwing hard,” Northern manager Phil Carr said. “But he was able to get some strikeouts when he needed them.
“Five of their eight runs were scored on two hits.”
The second leg of Carr’s statistic was completed in the third inning.
With two runners on base and two outs, Carr made a call to the bullpen. Facing a 1-1 pitch, O’Neal got the one he wanted, roping a three-run blast to left to up Fort Hill’s margin to 7-1.
“I was not thinking to go yard right there,” O’Neal said. “Two guys on base, I’m really looking to just put the bat on the ball and score some runs.”
He scored those two runs and his own with what O’Neal said was his first home run at any level.
Resh settled in after a 34-pitch first inning to make it through five frames, and it got him the win. The right-hander allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits with four strikeouts and three walks.
His brother, Coye, pitched two scoreless in relief, though the final frame was an adventurous one.
Colt Resh ended Fort Hill’s 7-5 upset of Allegany in the region semis in nearly identical fashion, stranding the bases loaded with a strikeout looking in a 3-2 count.
Coye upped the ante with back-to-back Ks to leave the bases loaded, both on 3-2 counts.
Fort Hill out-hit Northern, 7-6, led by Colt Resh’s 3-for-3 day with an RBI and two stolen bases. Liam Hamilton drove in the Sentinels’ final run on a run-scoring infield single in the seventh.
Northern’s Elliott Myers-Shirer went 2 for 4 with a double, Emmitt Lipscomb doubled, and Landon Yoder had an RBI single in the fourth for the Huskies’ other run.
Both teams made one error each, and both had their share of fine displays of glovework.
Chambers reached over the railing in foul territory up the first-base line in the fifth for an out, and Hamilton ran down a ball down the left-field line to take away a possible extra-base hit earlier in the game.
Lipscomb gave Northern a chance in the seventh with a diving snag in center field to rob Anthony Palumbo, whose two-out fly ball came with the bases loaded.
Jake Wampler was tabbed with the loss on the mound for Northern.
Hunter Beitzel allowed two runs on two hits in 3 1/3 solid frames of middle relief, and Caleb Hinebaugh tossed a scoreless seventh.
Fort Hill is awaiting its state quarterfinal opponent pending the results of one outstanding region final.
The North Region I championship between Patterson Mill and Harford Tech was suspended tied 8-8 after 13 innings.
If Patterson Mill wins, Fort Hill heads to Perryville in the quarterfinals. If Harford Tech wins, Fort Hill is at Patuxent.
That game is scheduled for Friday.
Either way, Fort Hill will be playing with house money in its familiar underdog role, making it a dangerous adversary in single-elimination baseball.
“I just didn’t expect, year three, for the transition to be so quick,” Brode said. “Good group of kids, so we’re thrilled. It’s been such a long time. We just hope to make a lot of people proud.”