Eagles leapfrog Old Mill to reach championship | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The Eagles' ace faced just two batters more than the minimum from the third inning on, leading Northeast to a 3-2 home win over Old Mill Monday night and securing a berth for the Eagles in the county championship against Arundel.

The Eagles will be looking to avenge a 3-1 loss to Arundel in last year's county title game and a 3-2 loss at Arundel earlier this season.

"We're looking forward to the rematch," said Northeast coach Adam Bolling. "They're a heck of a team and they've had a heck of a year, and we'll see what happens Thursday night. It should be a good one."

The Patriots were able to get to Kean early, scoring single runs in the first and second innings.

Sophomore Kevin Kean, Brody's cousin, smoked a first-inning double off the right-center field wall, and he came around to score two batters later on junior Andrew Haab's RBI single.

In the next inning, junior Hector

Hidalgo hit a two-out double to right field, took third on a balk, and scored on an RBI single by senior Matt Sharrock.

Kean led off the third inning with a single, but older relative Brody picked him off and went on to retire 14 of the next 16 batters.

"After that double off the fence I think he deserved it," joked Brody Kean.

The Eagles clawed back in their halves of the first and second innings, using aggresive baserunning to their advantage. Junior Glynn Davis led off the first with an infield single, stole second and moved to third as the throw went into center field. He scored on an RBI groundout by Josh Rowe, who went 2-for-3 and had the only multi-hit game for the Eagles.

Tyler Drinkard led off the second with a single, and while he stole second, Old Mill senior pitcher Joe Monar threw a wild pitch, giving Drinkard the chance to move to third. Josh Emge brought him home with an RBI single.

"We made a couple mistakes that cost us a couple of runs, and we didn't hit the ball the way we normally do," said Old Mill coach Mel Montgomery. "They ran really well, they were aggressive on the basepaths and they just played a little bit better than we did."

The Eagles broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Davis reached on an error and stole second. Rowe followed Davis with an attempted sacrifice bunt that was perfectly placed, allowing Davis to move to third and Rowe to reach safely.

Kean grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Davis scored on the twin killing, giving the Eagles the go-ahead run.

"It's not how I visualized it, but it works," Kean said.

Kean then took control from the mound, pitching around a one-out walk in the sixth inning and a two-out infield single in the seventh to close out the Patriots.

"He was lights out and that's where we wanted Brody to be," Bolling said. "We wanted him to come out and already be on cruise control, and he did that tonight. Brody's a big game pitcher."

Kean worked his fastball in with a variety of off-speed pitched to keep the Old Mill hitters off balance. He only struck out three, but he located within the zone and induced harmless flyouts and groundouts.

"He was mixing his pitches well," Bolling said. "As long as he does that he's going to be all right."

Kean's counterpart, Monar, was strong throughout, holding the Eagles to just six hits. He struck out six and walked one.

Hidalgo and Kevin Kean each went 2-for-3 for the Patriots, who, despite the loss, are still in good shape for a top-four seed in the 4A East Region.

Old Mill (15-6) 110 000 0 - 2 6 3

Northeast (16-4) 110 010 x - 3 6 0

WP: B. Kean (6-1). LP: Monar. 2B: OM- K. Kean, Hidalgo. RBI: OM- Haab, Sharrock; NE- Rowe, Emge.