By Kyle Wannen
For DigitalSports.com
Heading into the third inning of Tuesday’s state semifinal game against Bowie, the Severna Park baseball team knew they had to score some runs in order to support their pitcher Sean Willey, who had battled through the trouble to keep the game scoreless.
The Falcons (20-2) responded by drawing four walks and got a couple clutch hits of Bowie pitcher Tony Cerverizzo on their way to scoring five runs and breaking the game open. Severna Park scored three runs in the following inning and held on to win 8-2.
“We were not hitting the ball and with the pitcher starting to walk a lot of batters that really got us going,” Falcons first baseman Mike Boushell said.
Right fielder Tom McCarthy, designated hitter Connor Wells and second baseman Chris Bonomi, the bottom three batters in the order, all reached base to start off the third for the Falcons. McCarthy scored when shortstop Kyle Convissar was walked and then Wells scored when Boushell walked. After a sacrifice fly by catcher Alex Ramsay, center fielder Dave Turner blasted a pitched to depp left-center off the top of the wall for a bases-clearing triple which really blew the game open for Severna Park.
“He had been a little wild before, walking a lot of guys,” Turner said. “I was just looking for him to make a mistake and throw me one I could handle.”
“When you talk Severna Park baseball, a guy like Dave Turner comes to mind,” Falcons coach Jim McCandless said. “He’s a great leader. He lives and breathes baseball. I couldn’t have been happier for him to step up in a game like this to have a hit like that.”
In the fourth inning, Boushell drove in Bonomi and Convissar with a 2-RBI double and then scored on a RBI single by Ramsay.
“Mike’s a great hitter,” McCandless said. “People overlook him because there’s so many other guys that can swing the bat as well but he makes this team go.”
“We’re more of a team that starts off earlier than that but anyway we get it done,” Boushell said. “We expect to win every game.”
The 8-0 lead was more than enough for Willey who went five innings and gave up one run on three hits while striking out three. Reliever Brandon Ellis pitched two innings, giving up a run in the seventh inning but struck out four of the nine batters he faced.
Bowie (16-3) was kept in the game by second baseman Dylan Thompson. Thompson scored the Bulldogs’ first run on a passed ball in the fifth inning and then scored the only other run on a RBI double by third baseman Mike Grzeskiewicz.
“That’s part of baseball, you got to play it,” Bowie coach Bob Estes said. “They got the breaks on that. They got some more in that next inning and we had plenty of opportunities but we just couldn’t get a hit or anything to break it open.”
Severna Park now advances to play Quince Orchard in the state finals and will have their ace pitcher Dylan Taylor on the mound.
“We know we’re going to have a tough opponent but we’re confident we can get it done,” Turner said. “Just play our game and we’ll be fine.”
Processing your request, Please wait....
