by Nick Comeau

Going into their playoff games against Howard, the Warriors were 21-0. However, three players, two of them starters, were suspended following events that occurred at Prom. While the players also were suspended in the team’s 3-1 victory over Paint Branch in the previous playoff game, Howard proved more formidable and defeated Sherwood in 5-0 shutout.

The loss was a painful defeat for a team that had great wins over QO, which is playing in the state championship this week, over private-school power Bullis, and against defending state champions Gaithersburg. The victories contributed to the first time that Sherwood baseball has won 20 games in the regular season.

“Obviously losing players doesn’t help, but at the end of the day that had nothing to do with our loss to Howard. Baseball is a game where anybody can beat anybody on any given day, and on that day Howard played their best and we didn’t. That’s just the game of baseball,” said shortstop John Ervin.

Even so, designated hitter/outfielder Brendon Collins did allow that, “the suspensions hurt the team by forcing players to play new positions.”

“The biggest surprise this season is seeing how well everyone got along with each other. In years prior the chemistry has been pretty good, but this year was something special. Every single kid on the team got along extremely well not only on the field, but off the field as well,” said Ervin. The team chemistry was an important part of the team and Ervin believes it helped with their great season.

As for next season, the Warriors return multiple starters and believe they can carry the positive momentum, picking up where they left off. Ervin and Collins put heavy pressure on themselves, as they view anything short of a state championship as a failure next season.