Conditions were hardly ideal for the 2A South Region title game on Tuesday afternoon, but the inclement weather could not diminish the hosts as the Patuxent High School baseball team upended La Plata 7-3 to capture the region crown and complete a three-game sweep of the Warriors this spring courtesy of a pair of two-out rallies.
Patuxent (18-2) punched its ticket to the 2A state quarterfinals on Friday by scoring four runs in the second then responded to a three-run rally from La Plata (16-5) by plating three runs in the fourth as the Panthers’ battery of relief pitcher Riley Whitney and catcher Logan Powell played key roles at the plate and in the field.
Patuxent struggled initially against La Plata starting pitcher Camden Cooke until the Panthers’ Anthony Amadio broke the scoreless deadlock with a solo homer on he ninth pitch of an at-bat with two outs in the second. Amadio’s homer spoiled a solid start to the outing for Cooke and the next five Panthers all reached safely with Garrett Fean delivering a two-run double then scored on a single by Billy Clay.
“Anthony’s home run really help wake us up,” Patuxent coach Keith Powell said. “We couldn’t do anything early against their starter. But he had a great at-bat and then we got some hits right after that. But until Anthony’s home run, we really couldn’t make good contact.”
Staked to a 4-0 lead, however, Patuxent left-handed starting pitcher Michael Amadio encountered trouble in the third after walking the bases loaded in the second. Taylor Ellis opened the frame with a walk then Patrick Wutka brought the Warriors close with a two-run homer to left. After Chris Coombs walked, Powell hooked Amadio in favor of Whitney who clearly impacted the rest of the contest.
Whitney retired the first two batters he faced before yielding an infield single to Gill that allowed Coombs to score to narrow the gap to 4-3. But Whitney limited the damage thereafter and collected the win after he did not allow a run in four complete innings of work. Clay allowed one walk in a scoreless seventh to seal the victory in a non-save situation.
“It was a little rough at first,” Whitney said of his relief outing. “But once we scored those runs in the fourth and went up 7-3 that allowed me to relax. I was able to use a lot more of my breaking pitches and keep working the hitters off the plate.”
Patuxent gave Whitney three insurance runs in the home half of the fourth, again with all of the production occurring with two outs. Michael Amadio singled then Clay was intentionally walked and Powell made the Warriors pay with a two-run double to left center. Will Hagan then followed with a double that plated Powell and the Panthers again had a comfortable advantage.
“We just could never get that third out,” La Plata coach John Childers said. “They had two two-out rallies. But it was like I told the four seniors, I was proud of them for putting the program back in a good position. They were freshmen after we won the state title and then they won 10 games, 13 games then 16 games. We only lose four seniors, so I think we’re in good shape the next few years.”
Two other SMAC teams punched their tickets to the state quarterfinals last weekend. Leonardtown defeated North Point 11-7 to capture the 4A South Region title, while Northern blanked Great Mills to garner the 3A South Region crown.
Like the Panthers, the Raiders and Patriots will be among eight teams in their respective state quarterfinals when the playoffs resume this weekend.
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