Grace Academy won the Mason Dixon Christian Conference baseball tournament on Monday night at Meritus Park in Hagerstown, riding strong pitching, including 15 total strikeouts, to a 4-3 victory over Shalom Christian in the championship game.
Connor Earley struck out seven over the first four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks. Hudson Walls allowed an unearned run while striking out the side in the fifth inning. Jaeden Peterson, a hard-throwing lefty, shut the door over the final two innings, striking out five without surrendering a hit or walk.
"Our pitching has been dominant all year, especially Jaeden and Connor. Hudson coming in there in the middle, he's been one of our top three all year," said Grace coach Jon Showe. "Jaeden's had that closer role this year and that's what he likes. That's what he does, comes in and closes it."
The Knights (13-8) went 9-1 in MDCC games this season, and won all three meetings against the Flames. All of them were close, including 6-5 and 4-2 victories six days apart in the regular season.
Grace also survived a 4-3, eight-inning test against Heritage in last week's semifinals, tying it with a run in the seventh inning and winning it in the extra frame.
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Shalom took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Brady Dukehart's leadoff triple and Keaton Shands' sacrifice fly. The Flames doubled their lead in the second inning when Drake Wenger hit a leadoff double and scored on an error.
The Knights tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the second. Michael Berry led off with a single, tournament MVP AJ Presley hit a one-out single and a pair of errors allowed both runners to score.
Grace took a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Ryan Peterson reached on an error and scored on Presley's RBI double. Presley scored two batters later on an error.
"We had some key hits. We swung the bats pretty well, we just hit it in some spots right at guys … and some balls I didn't think had any business being (Shalom errors) were what won it for us," Showe said. "That's the game of baseball."
The Flames scored their final run in the fifth as a result of two errors.
Walls finished with two hits for Grace. Earley and Peterson were named to the all-tournament team, and the Knights got to celebrate their championship on Hagerstown's new downtown diamond.
"It's a pleasure to be in this beautiful park," Showe said. "It's something I think Hagerstown deserves, and our boys loved every minute of it."
In the third-place game earlier Monday, Cumberland Valley Christian defeated Heritage, 12-3.
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