Talbot keeps it simple on way to championship

Talbot manager Rich White’s approach was fundamentally simple.

“Just play baseball,” White told his Talbot team heading into the District 6 Senior League championship June 26. “We laid the groundwork with the practices and they knew what the expectations were. Just play baseball the way they know how, and don’t do too much.”

Talbot followed those instructions while riding the solid one-two pitching punch of Nathan Merchant and Couper Barletta on the way to a 5-2 title-clinching victory over Dorchester at Hog Neck.

Talbot was scheduled to play Brunswick on Saturday in the first round of the state tournament in Berlin.

“It’s a fantastic group of kids,” said White, whose team won the best-of-three series 2-1. “We’re pulling them from three different high schools (Easton, St. Michaels, Saints Peter and Paul). But they jelled well. They’ve been accepting of, I don’t want to say a diminished role. Let’s say they were a shortstop at their school, but we’re asking them to play left field. And everyone has bought into the team concept. Everyone has contributed.”

Talbot won the series opener 13-3 in Hurlock on June 24. Dorchester knotted the series at one-all the following night with a 14-7 win, setting up the decisive Game 3.

Dorchester took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of the title game on Jackson Nehring’s RBI single.

But Talbot responded with a four-run rally in the bottom of the first for a lead it never surrendered.

Buel Jensen knocked in the tying run with a fielder’s choice. Jace Elliott and Finley Carter each worked back-to-back bases-loaded walks to make it 3-1. Brody McDaniel, Talbot’s No. 9 hitter, then laid down a two-out RBI bunt single to give Talbot a three-run lead after one complete.

Merchant got the starting nod on the mound for Talbot and yielded two unearned runs and two hits over four innings, striking out two and walking three. Barletta came on in relief to seal the victory.

“It was very effective,” White said of his team’s pitching combination. “Both guys. Different styles. Merchant gets a lot of weak contact, and then Barletta comes in and he’s more of a strikeout, power pitcher.

McDaniel finished 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs, and Elliott also drove in two runs. Talbot finished with 10 walks, with Ben White and Carter each drawing two. Jensen added two stolen bases.

Nehring, Dorchester’s clean-up hitter, finished 2 for 3. Dorchester totaled seven stolen bases, led by Ryan Robinson, who had three.

Carson Weber started on the mound for Dorchester, allowing four runs but no hits in 2/3 of an inning.