The Hagerstown baseball team waited six days to figure out a way to get out of a jam they were in. The Tigers were hosting the Winchester Falcons in a game on Thursday, April 24, on Lloyd Michael Field. When play resumed on Wednesday, April 30, after a rain delay, the score was tied at 1-1 with Winchester batting in the top of the fourth inning. The Falcons had runners on first and second base with one out, and the count on the batter was no balls and two strikes. Tiger senior pitcher Kaagen Kendall only needed one pitch to end the threat. He struck out the batter, and freshman catcher Graham Vinson threw out the Falcon runner trying to advance to third base to complete a double play.
Winchester scored a single run in the top of the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead. But in the bottom of the inning, the Tigers responded with two runs to take the lead for good.
Freshman Kaden Hall reached base on a hard-hit ball that was mishandled and advanced to third base on a Graham Vinson double. Will Combs followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly that the Falcons also mishandled, allowing Vinson to score the go-ahead run. The Falcons never scored again. Kendall struck out five of the last six batters he faced to push his strikeout total to 13 for the game.
Winchester head coach Ken Hendrickson said he decided to try to make a big play as play resumed. “I have been thinking about the probabilities the last few days,” Hendrickson said. “We tried to lay down a bunt and attempt a double steal on the first pitch. It didn’t work, but I would do it again. We made three uncharacteristic errors that they capitalized on, but that’s baseball. It was a fun game between two good teams.”
Hagerstown head coach Jay Hale said his team benefited from Falcon mistakes. “They made a couple errors,” Hale said, “but that is what happens when we put pressure on them. This is a big win. Both teams are good, and we want to win every conference game we play. When he is on, (Kaagen) Kendall is hard to hit. He pitched well.”
Winchester (7-2, 3-2 TEC) 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
Hagerstown (7-3, 4-0 TEC) 1 0 0 0 2 0 x 3
Winchester hits: McCormac Anderson, Justin Cox, Caleb Hummel (3), Landen Porfidio, Bryce Tippett, Aiden Weatherhead — Hagerstown hits: Combs, Aiden Grover, Hall, Will King, Jaykob Troutwine, Vinson, Jackson Ward
A version of this article will appear in the May 7 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.