During the 2015 season the Wayne County athletic directors decided to implement a traveling trophy for all future Wayne County tournaments. In baseball, the traveling trophy is a wooden bat from the 1960s. Until Saturday, May 13, the only teams to capture the old bat were Centerville and Hagerstown. If you would like to see it now, it will reside in the trophy case at Northeastern High School for the next year.
When you are hot, you are hot, and at this point in the season the Northeastern team is on fire.
On Saturday, the Knights dominated tournament play.
Hagerstown and Lincoln opened the day. Kaagen Kendall and Kayne Ervin combined to throw a no-hitter, defeating Lincoln by the score of 10-0.
The Knights defeated Centerville in the second game by the score of 7-1, behind an outstanding pitching performance from Kaiden White.
In the championship game, Northeastern easily defeated Hagerstown. Logan White, the other White twin, matched his brother’s performance earlier in the day, keeping the Tigers off balance in a game the Knights won by the final score of 11-1.
Game 1, Hagerstown 10, Cambridge City Lincoln 0
It is hard to win a baseball game without getting hits.
For three innings, sophomores Oliver Webb for the Eagles and Kaagen Kendall for Hagerstown locked up in a scoreless pitchers’ duel. The Eagles loaded the bases in the second inning with two walks and a Tiger error, but Kendall was able to work his way out of trouble by stranding all three runners.
The Tigers found their offense in the top of the fourth inning, erupting for five runs. Four hits, a walk, and two costly errors led to an Eagles pitching change. The Tigers scored three more runs in the top of the fifth inning, while Kendall continued to hold Lincoln without a hit. Kendall left the game after five innings, making way for Kayne Ervin. Ervin kept the no-hitter going, while the Tigers added a single run in the seventh inning to make the final score 10-0. Kendall and Ervin combined to strike out 11 batters. The Tigers collected nine hits; Collin Beaty, Ervin and Cole Tracy each had two hits.
Hagerstown (17-5) 0 0 0 6 3 0 1 10
Lincoln (6-10) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hagerstown pitchers: Kendell (WP), Ervin (6) — Lincoln pitchers: Webb (LP), Kaemen Coon (4), Gavin Trent (7) — Hagerstown hits: Beaty (2), Wyatt Burris, Carter Craig, Ervin (2), Quaid Mull, Tracy (2) — Lincoln hits: none.
Game 2, Northeastern 7, Centerville 1
With their projected starter at home with a high fever the Bulldogs turned to freshman Edward Parker to slow the hot-hitting Knights. It was a tall order.
The Bulldogs gave Parker a quick 1-0 lead to work with in the top of the first inning. Colton Rinehart reached base on a Knight error, and eventually came around to score after another Knight error, followed by a sacrifice fly from Collin Clark.
The lead was short lived. The Knights answered with three runs in the bottom of the first inning, all without the benefit of a hit. Three walks and a Bulldog error gave them a lead they would never surrender. The Bulldogs never scored again, while Knights added a single run in the second inning, two more in the fifth inning, and a single run in the sixth inning to cruise to the title game.
Kaiden White, pitching for the Knights, baffled the Bulldog hitters all day. White only surrendered five hits and no earned runs.
The Knights also collected five hits, but they were more efficient in driving them across home plate. Knight third baseman Carson Terrell was the only player for either team with more than one hit in the game.
Centerville (9-8) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Northeastern (14-7) 3 1 0 0 2 1 – 7
Centerville pitchers: Parker (LP), Rinehart (5), Gavin Robinson (7) — Northeastern pitcher: Kaiden White (WP) — Centerville hits: Clark, Jacob Crowe, Wade Lambright, Kollyn Peed, Parker — Northeastern hits: Trevor Burkhart, Keaton Mikesell, Landon Sum, Terrell, Kaiden White
Championship, Northeastern 11, Hagerstown 1
Northeastern Knights head coach Dave Baker decided to keep it in the family.
On Wednesday, May 10, Kaiden White completely shut down the Tiger offense and the Knights went on to win their regular season game by the score of 12-0, knocking Hagerstown out of the race for the Tri-Eastern Conference title. On Saturday, coach Baker introduced the Tigers to Kaiden’s twin brother Logan.
The Knights provided offense support for Logan, collecting 13 hits and scoring 11 runs, while he limited the Tigers to a single first-inning run en route to an 11-1 win.
Keaton Mikesell was hit by a pitch to open play. A one-out triple from Carson Terrell drove Mikesell home to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. The Tigers tied the game in the bottom of the first inning. Ben Williams hit a bloop single. Two outs later, Wyatt Burris hammered a double to score Williams. It turned out to be the only Tiger run in the game.
The Knights broke the game open in the top of the second inning with five hits and five runs, and the rout was on. Logan White helped his own cause, leading the Knights with three hits. Four of his teammates had two hits each. The Tigers were limited to five hits. Burris had two of the five.
The Knights’ win was their fifth in a row, and eighth in their last nine games.
Knight head coach Dave Baker was happy for his team’s success.
“We are playing great,” Baker said. “And they are playing with a lot of confidence. We made two errors in the first inning of our first game today, but it did slow them down. They started to relax, and they played great the rest of the day. We have senior leadership and that is important.”
Saturday was prom night at Northeastern, but the team took the time to deliver their newly acquired bat to the school on the way home.
Northeastern (14-7) 1 5 0 0 2 0 3 11
Hagerstown (17-6) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Northeastern pitchers: Logan White (WP) — Hagerstown pitchers: Quaid Mull (LP), Gavin Walter (4), Collin Beaty (7) —** Northeastern hits**: Trevor Burkhart, Colton Creech, Mikesell (2), Landon Sum (2), Carson Terrell (2), Kaiden White (2), Logan White (3) — Hagerstown hits: Burris (2), Kayne Ervin, Walter, Will
A version of this article appeared in the May 17 2023 print edition of the Western Wayne News.