OAKLAND — No. 5 Southern trailed 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth, but tied the game and eventually walked it off, completing a 6-5 comeback win over Northern on Friday.
“I feel good, it’s cool, when I grew up, my dad and my mom were friends with coach Carr (Northern head coach Phil Carr),” Southern head coach Hayden McLaughlin said. “We’d play for him in the summer, play against him in high school. And then getting to coach against him, this all feels so surreal.”
The Huskies (5-6, 2-4 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) led 3-2 in the top of the fifth and appeared to add some insurance runs.
“We got ourselves to that 5-2 lead, you gotta put it away,” Carr said. “We didn’t do it. Robert (Deatelhauser) was pitching really well. You can’t come up and walk the first two hitters and then we bobble the ball in right field. Very disappointing, I thought we were in control.”
After two quick outs, Liam Stewart hit a ground ball to second base, the throw was late for a two-out infield single.
The next at-bat, Wally Brands sent a fly ball deep to right for an RBI triple.
A fielding error by the shortstop on the next pitch scored another run, putting Northern up 5-2.
The Rams (8-3, 5-1 WestMAC) rallied in the bottom of the fifth.
After a hit batter and a Cade Leader walk, Ben Lohr hit a ground ball past the diving third baseman for an RBI knock.
After an infield fly rule, Brayden Upole hit a line drive to right to make it a one-run game.
“Just told the guys, in a high school baseball game, you gotta get 21 outs,” McLaughlin said. “We just gotta keep playing till we get 21 outs. Doesn’t matter if we’re on out 17, 18, 19 or 20. If we still got life, we just gotta compete.”
Two batters later, Lohr scored the tying run on a wild pitch.
“We’re not making a lot of mistakes, but every one we do, it just bites us,” Carr said. “It’s been a repeat of all year.”
After six innings from Jared Haskiell, Ryan Bird took over on the mound in the seventh for Southern.
Haskiell allowed five hits, four earned runs and three walks with nine strikeouts.
“He started attacking the zone a little more,” McLaughlin said of Haskiell’s middle innings. “We would get ahead 0-1, then every at-bat we were in a 2-2, 3-2 count. As the game went on, we were winning and striking out, getting put outs. He knew we had to get a quality start out of him for us to compete today, he came in and stepped to the challenge.”
Bird walked two batters and had runners on the corners with two outs, but got a first pitch popup to keep the game tied.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Lohr sent a bullet into center for a single.
He stole second on the first pitch of the next at-bat, then the Huskies intentionally walked Reece Tasker.
“It’s a no-brainer to walk him and set up a force out,” Carr said. “He meant nothing here, the guy at second wins the game.”
After another walk by Upole, Jack Healy stepped into the box.
Two pitches later, he sent a ground ball that deflected off the second baseman into right field for a walk-off RBI single.
“I’m just so proud of Jack,” McLaughlin said. “He was pretty sick the other day, lost a couple pounds and wasn’t at practice. He didn’t feel the best, didn’t know how he’d be tonight. And then he came out and gave us a bunch of quality at-bats.”
The Huskies loaded the bases to open the game as Luke Ross and Stewart had back-to-back base hits before Brands drew a walk.
Haskiell struck the next two batters out, but two wild pitches brought in two runs to give Northern a 2-0 lead.
“We struck out too much looking, I said some of you don’t need to take a bat with you because you’re looking for a walk anyway,” Carr said. “We gotta change that mentality at the plate.”
The Rams answered in the bottom of the second with a two-out RBI single from Bird to make it 2-1.
Both teams scored its next run on a fielder’s choice.
Deatelhauser pitched 6 1/3 innings for the Huskies, allowing eight hits, five earned runs and a walk with eight strikeouts.
Ross and Stewart each had two hits for Northern.
Lohr, Upole and Healy each had two hits for Southern.
Lohr had a pair of RBIs and a stolen base.
“There’s something about Ben Lohr, when the lights are the brightest, Ben Lohr’s the one ready to step up,” McLaughlin said. “He’s the calmest one in the room. No matter what he’s tasked up against, he finds a way to get through it.”
Both teams play area top five opponents on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
The Rams host No. 3 Frankfort while the Huskies face No. 4 East Hardy.
“Our confidence should be sky high right now,” McLaughlin said. “Northern’s a great team, they’re well coached. For us to have a big win over them at home, especially with a senior coming up clutch, should have everyone up and ready to go.”