When the Hagerstown baseball team arrived at Winchester on Saturday, May 31, for their semifinal sectional game against Union County, head coach Jay Hale had a decision to make. Hale had to decide between sending in senior Indiana South All-Star pitcher Kaagen Kendall or try to save him for the championship game and give the ball to freshman phenom Kaden Hall. Hale opted to play Hall, who delivered a masterful performance in an 8-3 Tiger win.
The Patriots scored in the bottom of the first inning to take an early lead. Dalton Creech singled, moved to second and then to third on passed balls, and scored on a ground out from Cole Cheatham. The Tigers tied the score in the top of the second. Jackson Ward drew a two-out walk, raced all the way to third base on a subsequent throwing error and scored on a wild pitch.
For the next three innings, Hall was in a zone. Striking out the side on nine pitches is statistically a rare feat known as an immaculate inning. The bottom of the second inning was an immaculate inning for Hall: nine pitches, three strikeouts. In the top of the third inning, the Tigers scored three runs to take a lead they would never surrender. In the bottom of the third inning, Hall duplicated his rare feat with another three strikeouts in nine pitches.
The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Hall struck out the side again in the bottom of the fourth, but he needed 22 pitches and issued a walk. Then he left the mound with a low enough pitch count to be eligible to pitch in the championship game if needed.
The Tigers increased their advantage to 8-1 in the top of the fifth inning before the Patriots nicked Tiger reliever Aiden Grover for two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Anthony Kelley pitched the final two scoreless innings for an 8-3 victory.
Hall struck out 10 batters, and Grover and Kelley combined to strike out five more. The trio held the Patriots to two hits. The Tigers were very aggressive on the base paths, stealing nine bases. Hall was the winning pitcher and he collected two hits; freshman catcher Graham Vinson collected two more.
The Tigers advanced to the championship game to be played on Monday, June 2, against seventh-ranked Shenandoah.
Hagerstown (15-9) 0 1 3 2 2 0 0 8
Union County (7-19) 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 3
Hagerstown hits: Hall (2), Kelley, Graham Vinson (2), Will King — Union County hits: Creech, Cole Cheatham
A version of this article appeared in the June 4 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.