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Gilman Forces Decisive Rematch for MIAA Championship

May 25, 2016

Northeast Prospect ID

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By PBR Maryland staff

The Gilman Greyhounds edged the Archbishop Spalding Cavaliers by a score of 6-5 at Ripken Stadium on Tuesday night. Gilman’s victory forced a decisive winner-take-all rematch between the two schools to determine who will bring home the MIAA ‘A’ Conference crown.

Needing a win to extend their season, Coach Larry Sheets’ Greyhound squad got a big performance from junior Drew Ehrlich. At the plate he collected two hits including a single that brought home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. Ehrlich also threw four innings in relief in which he held the Spalding offense to one run on two hits.

For the Cavaliers, Coach Joe Palumbo gave the ball to Tyler Blohm in hopes that the lefty would secure the team’s third consecutive championship. After stranding a runner on second to end the first inning, Blohm would give up a solo homerun to Max Costes to give Gilman a 1-0 lead in the second. Spalding answered with a run in the bottom of the frame off of starter Alex Shafer. Barrett Smith scored on a wild pitch following his leadoff triple to left-center. That would be the only run given up by Shafer in his two innings of work as he struck out three and walked none.

In the third the Greyhounds put four on the board. Isaac Engermann led off the inning and was the first of four straight batters to lay down bunts. He reached on an error and crossed home plate on Isaiah Braxton’s push bunt that trickled between Blohm and Smith playing first.  With the score at 2-1, Emmanuel Engermann dropped a beauty down the third base line, leaving no play for Spalding’s defense. Following an unsuccessful sacrifice attempt, John Fitzgerald laced an RBI single up the middle. Gilman pushed their fifth run across with an RBI double off the bat of Pierce Bennett. The Cavaliers were unable to answer in the bottom half of the inning as well as in the fourth off of reliever Michael Willis.

Spalding got back the momentum in the bottom of the fifth where they scored three times off of Costes, who was on the mound in relief, and shortened the deficit to one. Spalding would load the bases with one out after a Billy Godrick infield single and walks to David Harding and Lavale Hodges. After a strikeout Nick Vermillion hit a seeing-eye-single over the second baseman’s head that scored two. Carter Sears followed with an RBI single up middle.

Blohm would settle down after the big third inning for Gilman. In his final four innings of work the talented lefty did not surrender a hit and allowed just one batter to reach second base. He ended the day with one earned run in seven innings, striking out twelve and walking three.

The Cavaliers tied the game in the bottom of the seventh after Hodges drew a one-out walk and then scored on Smith’s third hit of the game, a double to right-center field. After a silent eighth inning, Gilman would strike again in the ninth.

With two outs Emmanuel Engermann reached base after a hit-by-pitch. He would then steal second and would score after a clutch full-count single to left from Ehrlich off of Spalding reliever Drew Hunt.

Spalding would get two runners on with one out in the ninth, but Ehrlich would induce back-to-back ground ball outs to third and secure a thrilling win for the Greyhounds.   

The winner-take-all rematch between Gilman and Archbishop Spalding is slated to begin Tuesday at Loyola Blakefield with the start time of 5 p.m.

WP- Ehrlich

LP- Hunt

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