File:Baseball 2019, Brunswick Orioles pitcher Josh Simons delivers a pitch to a Georgetown Titans batter during tournament play Saturday at Brunswick High School..jpg

Summary

Titans rally past Brunswick Orioles in NABF Mid-Atlantic tourney By Joe Ferraro from The Frederick News-Post, August 4, 2019

Photo: Brunswick Orioles pitcher Josh Simons delivers a pitch to a Georgetown Titans batter during tournament play Saturday at Brunswick High School. Staff photo by Graham Cullen

BRUNSWICK — As Andrew Mathias’ soft line drive was falling fast in center field Saturday at Brunswick High, a berth in the NABF Major Division World Series seemed inevitable for the Brunswick Orioles. “I thought it was going to drop in,” Orioles manager Rusty Potts said of a liner Mathias struck with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh inning and Brunswick already holding a two-run lead over the Georgetown (Delaware) Titans. But center fielder Trey Mears may have single-handedly altered the outcome of the game, charging in to make a diving catch and then quickly peeling himself off the ground to throw out Tommy Baggett at home plate and end the inning. “That fired us up and gave us that little extra spark to get what we got done in the eighth inning,” Titans first baseman Jake Dmiterchik said after his team scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth to rally for a 4-2 victory. The teams will return to Brunswick High at noon Sunday to play a winner-take-all NABF Mid-Atlantic Region tournament final. The winner will advance to the NABF World Series, which begins Thursday and runs through Aug. 11 in Battle Creek, Michigan. “That right there gave them some momentum,” Potts said of Mears’ catch. “And the game is all about momentum.” Brunswick starter Josh Simons had scattered just three hits over seven innings before hitting the Titans’ Jesse Long with his first pitch of the eighth inning, and Cody Dmiterchik then reached on an infield single that chased Simons from the game. Mears then singled to left-center field off reliever Jacob Wetzel to plate Long and cut the Orioles’ lead in half, 2-1, and DJ Long walked to load the bases. Wetzel was on the verge of escaping the jam, striking out Jordan Gowe and retiring Diaz Nardo on a shallow fly ball to right field. But Jake Dmiterchik lined the first pitch he saw into center field for a go-ahead two-run single, and another run scored on a fielding error in center field. “I was looking first-pitch fastball,” Jake Dmiterchik said. “[Long] told me [Wetzel’s fastball] was flat. I was sitting there looking for it.” JJ Killen then worked around a one-out single by Baggett to record the save in a game that featured strong starting pitching from both teams. After surrendering a two-out, opposite-field home run to the Orioles’ Justin Smith in the first inning, Titans starter Matt Warrington allowed just three more hits over the next seven innings, striking out seven batters along the way. In the top of the eighth, he received more help from Mears, who raced into the right-center-field gap and crashed into the fence to take away a hit from Wetzel. While Simons cruised through the middle innings of the game, he benefitted from the Orioles requesting a bat check after the Titans’ Luke Weddell led off the game with a walk. Before Weddell walked to first base, he fouled off a Simons pitch, and players sitting in the Orioles dugout told Potts the sound of Weddell’s bat making contact with the baseball differed from what they normally hear when a wooden bat strikes a baseball. Potts then asked the home plate umpire to check Weddell’s bat, and it was discovered that the Titans’ leadoff man was using a composite bat. Players can use composite bats during regular-season play but not in the postseason. In cases where players are caught using a composite bat in the postseason, both the player and his manager are ejected from that game. Titans manager Mike Dmiterchik praised his players for their resilience. “They fight,” he said. “We’ve really jelled together in our days here in Frederick [County].”