The Hagerstown baseball team’s game with visitors Monroe Central was originally scheduled as a double-header at 10 a.m. April 18, but it was changed to a single game at 1 p.m. and later to 3 p.m. because of rain.
Many games were rescheduled that day, but the teams wanted to play, if at all possible, because they planned a pregame ceremony to honor the memory of Peggy Michael, the wife of longtime Hagerstown baseball coach Lloyd Michael (Hall of Fame) and Amber Richardson, the wife of current Monroe Central coach Sean Richardson, who both recently lost their courageous battles with cancer.
The first inning resulted in a scoreless tie before Monroe Central erupted for seven runs in the second inning. The Bears collected five hits, benefiting from two walks and four Hagerstown errors to take a 7-0 lead.
The Tigers regained their focus and started to whittle away at their deficit, scoring three runs in the bottom of the second inning, and adding four runs in the bottom of the third inning, fueled by doubles from Zack Logston and Nick Tinkle, to tie the score at 7-7. Graham Vinson hit a one-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the Tigers a lead they would never surrender.
The Tigers pushed their advantage to 11-7 with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Bears scored twice in the top of the sixth inning but the Tigers responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame en route to a 15-9 win. The Tigers were aggressive on the base paths with 12 steals.
Caleb Luedike collected three hits to lead the Bears. Gaige Howard had a big day for the Tigers—batting eighth in the lineup, he drove in three runs. Kaden Hall led the Tigers with three hits. Heath Johnson, appearing in relief, was the winning pitcher. Carter Morris took the loss.
Monroe Central (0-0) 0 7 0 0 0 2 0 9
Hagerstown (9-0) 0 3 4 1 3 4 – 15
Monroe Central hits: Kyler Bogue, Jed Ferguson (2), Luedike (3), Alex Middleton, Levi Pence (2), Carson Siekmann (2)
Hagerstown hits: Dawson Brown, Fletcher Callahan, Jaxon Hale, Hall (3), Howard, Logston (2), Tinkle, Vinson
A version of this article appeared in the April 22 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.