by Camilo Illanes ‘22

Junior Ryan Bouma swings at a pitch during varsity baseball’s 11-1 win against Northwest on March 25. Photo by Avery Prudenti ’22

On March 22, Sherwood boys baseball started their defense as 4A state champs with a 9-5 win against a very tough opponent in Urbana on March 21. The Warriors continued their momentum in their next game against Northwest on March 24 with an 11-1 win before stumbling on March 26 in a tough 17-7 loss against Churchill.

To prepare for the season, the team has been focusing on drills and fundamentals that improve their skills for frequent in-game scenarios. This includes many ground ball and pop fly drills for the fielders, bunts and sac fly drills for hitters, and intentional walks and catching runners on base for pitchers. “Doing the little things right, like having sound defense, and always running the bases efficiently is what helped our team win the title last year,” said senior catcher Leo Whelan. “This season we are looking to keep improving on the small fundamental aspects of our game to find that same success.”

Despite those efforts, the start of the Urbana game went poorly for Sherwood as the Hawks scored two runs in the 1st inning off an error in the infield. Urbana followed up by extending their lead in the 3rd inning with a solo home run. “We knew we had the offense to bring the game back; we just had to put our heads down and get to work,” recounted senior outfielder Jake Shalvi.

This offense came in bunches in the 5th inning as junior Amari Allen got the team going with a go-ahead grand slam. “This completely shifted the momentum of the game and gave everyone a boost,” said senior pitcher Dan Combs. With this momentum Sherwood drove in four more runs, extending the lead to 8-4. Senior pitcher Josh Hollowell shut down Urbana’s offense, earning the win with one inning of relief pitching for junior Ben Berger.

“We are a very tight-knit team and the chemistry we have together is what makes the difference when two strong rosters go up against each other,” noted Hollowell. The Warriors will count on very strong pitching from Hollowell and senior Steven Tameris, a Frostburg State commit, to win games against top tier opponents.

The winning continued in the Warriors’ home opener against Northwest on March 25. Sherwood’s bats started off hot: senior Niko Pernie collected two hits in the first inning, and junior Ryan Bouma had a base-clearing double as the Warriors went onto a dominating 11-1 win. Berger earned his first varsity win on the mound with relief help from sophomore Mac Crismond, who saw his first varsity action pitching two innings.

March 26 to face a very tough opponent in the Churchill Bulldogs. The game went back and forth through the first four innings with both offenses putting up big numbers. The main contributors to the Warriors’ offense were Allen and Escanilla with two hits each and junior Jack Andre who hit a 3-run homer. With an 8-7 lead at the top of the 5th ending, the Bulldogs proved why they are title contenders and scored 9 runs which proved to be too much for the Warriors’ offense to come back from in the bottom of the 5th and which put the mercy rule into play to end the game.

“It’s a tough loss to a good team, but we can’t let that get to us since it is a long season,” said Whelan.