St. Mary’s senior Nick Hulme intensely watched Parker Weekley as his teammate prepared to deal what he hoped — what every Saint on the field or in the Joe Cannon Stadium bleachers hoped — would be the last pitch.
Hulme and Weekley discussed something like this the other day. As much as Hulme hated handing the ball away in the top of the seventh inning with two McDonogh runners on base and one out away from St. Mary’s first title in nine years, he trusted his friend to close.
With a flyout, the dark brown Joe Cannon hill turned white and blue as St. Mary’s celebrated its 7-3 victory over McDonogh for the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association B Conference title Sunday. The Saints beat McDonogh, 8-1, on Thursday in the semifinals of the double-elimination tournament.
“I’ve been waiting for that moment for a long time,” Hulme said.
“We all have,” senior Henry Carbone added.
The Saints (21-4) bring home the program’s first MIAA trophy since 2015 and fifth overall, following their first winning season since 2017.
“It’s pure joy now,” St. Mary’s coach Mike Bronakoski said. “It’s been a long road of up and downs getting back here, adversity our program and kids have faced collectively. To sum it up, they’ve been winners off the field a long time. It’s nice to see them recognized as winners on the field.”
Expectations followed St. Mary’s switch from the A to B Conference this spring. After years forged in the fires of Division I-rich competition, a title shouldn’t have been hard for the Saints to grasp.
But it was those expectations that threw St. Mary’s into battle almost every day. Every opponent gave the Saints everything in their dugouts and St. Mary’s bested them, carrying a 12-game winning streak into the final.
“They learned how to get through games like this together as a group,” Bronakoski said.
McDonogh proved to be another one of those dogfights in the end. The Eagles grabbed an early lead but quickly lost it, and mostly fell victim to Hulme (nine strikeouts and six hits allowed).
“That’s been the theme the whole year,” Hulme said. “First two innings are my toughest. Then, I get in a groove and start rolling. Fastball command, give ’em the breaking ball when I have to.”
He nearly iced the Eagles by the same fashion in the seventh, inducing two quick outs. But a single and a walk later, Bronakoski made the call. Weekley struggled at first in the precarious situation, hitting a batter to load the bases before walking in the third McDonogh run. But there were still two outs. Above him, his classmates and community rose to their feet.
Leo Antwerpen’s final chance for McDonogh fell harmlessly into shortstop Harrison Deloach’s glove.
“It was scary,” Carbone admitted, “but we got the job done. Who cares how?”
St. Mary’s only had six hits Sunday, same as McDonogh. To maneuver past the Eagles, the Saints had to dismantle their defense first.
The Saints batters played with starter Jack Hortiz’s mind as much as they did his pitches. Leading off in the top of the second, Dominic Hicks motioned for a bunt and instead took a walk. Teagan McDonough leaned his shoulder and let himself get hit by a pitch. Colin Talbot pushed his teammate to second on a McDonogh error.
“Coach Andy [Moore], that’s all he does,” Carbone said with a smirk. “Just mess with the other team. Get ’em off balance.”
Senior Ben Bonfiglio rocketed Hortiz’s second pitch to right field for an RBI, just for Carbone to outdo him with a two-run triple. Deloach capped the scoring at four. Then in the fifth, Hicks and Bonfiglio padded the board with one more run apiece.
“We took advantage when they made a couple mistakes. Our guys came up huge in those innings,” Bronkoski said. “And that’s what it takes to play winning baseball.”
Each time the Saints returned to the dugout, they passed their black-and-white portrait of “Rocky” Raccoon. A few weeks back, a police officer interrupted St. Mary’s practice with a warning.
“‘If you hear a gunshot, there’s a rabid raccoon,'” Carbone recalled. “Twenty minutes later, we hear ‘pew.'”
It’s a memorial, the Saints said. And good luck.
“Haven’t lost since,” Carbone said.
McDonogh — 110 000 1 — 3 6 4
St. Mary’s — 140 020 X — 7 6 2
WP: Hulme; LP: Hortiz
2B: MC — Hortiz, Borz; SM — Moran, Deloach. 3B: SM — Carbone
