PERRYVILLE — The last time Elkton and Perryville met on April 11, the Panthers wiped away a one-run deficit in the seventh inning to help secure a 5-4 victory. As the bottom of the seventh inning played out between the two teams on Monday, Perryville once again aimed to make a late-inning rally.
With two outs, the tying run at first base and catcher Dom Ferrigno at the plate, a base-hit would keep the Panthers’ final hopes alive. Ferrigno did hit the ball hard, but right into the glove of Elkton shortstop James LaManna.
Elkton survived a late inning comeback by Perryville, after holding a lead from the third inning on. Following the conclusion of the sixth inning and Elkton in command of a 6-1 advantage, the Elks turned to relief pitcher Daymien Phillips to close out the Susquehanna Division matchup. The Panthers loaded the bases with three of their first four batters that stepped to the plate. Wyatt Bovankovich started Perryville’s scoring with an RBI single, followed by consecutive runs driven in from Gage Poorman and Pierce Sponaugle to cut Perryville’s deficit to one run.
Even with options in place if the inning continued, Elkton head coach Ethan Kline stuck with his sophomore reliever noting that Phillips continued to find the zone throughout the final inning.
“He was staying in the zone and his stuff stilled looked decent because I feel like I had a good look back here,” Kline said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but we had faith in him. I feel with a young guy like that having the adults on your team be like ‘hey man we trust you here’, I think it’s hard to coach confidence and things like that I think do.”
After struggling to get runners on base throughout most of the afternoon, Perryville head coach Ricky Davis felt the pitching change provided a new sense of life for his offense.
“Even though we were trailing by five, once we got guys on base it just kept going,” Davis said. “Dom hit a nice line drive and I told him ‘don’t change a thing’ because that happens in baseball.”
Perryville’s inability to hit through the first six innings was in large part due to the outing of Elkton starter Caleb Potter. Potter allowed just one base hit across six complete innings of work. The only hit — and run — he allowed came in the in the home half of the first on an RBI single from Ferrigno. Potter responded by retiring 16 of the next 19 hitters he faced. Potter finished with 11 strikeouts and walked only three batters.
“Seeing that me performing on the mound can really help my team,” Potter said reflecting on his one-hit outing. “I just want to help my team any way I can and if that is on the mound, that is what I got to do.”
Potter rebounded from an outing on Friday were he went just two innings in a 7-6 loss to Harford Tech. Catcher Jose Romero said the two try to work at a certain pace with Elkton’s starter preferring a faster tempo. Romero felt Potter settled in once he found that rhythm.
“Before the game, we were talking how we had to be on a pace because he does better when he is on a quick pace,” Romero said of Potter. “In the first inning we didn’t do too well because we weren’t communicating on those pitches or where they were, but after that I think we did pretty good with it.”
After striking out in his first at-bat, Romero reached base three consecutive times and drove in three of the Elks’ six runs. The Elkton senior tied the game in the third inning on an RBI single. An error by Perryville, plus a sacrifice fly from Kaleb Kennedy in the same inning put the Golden Elks in front 3-1. Romero started an Elkton rally in the fifth inning with another RBI single and put Elkton up 4-1. The Elks scored another run later in the inning on a passed ball. Romero’s final hit of the day came in the following inning, extending the Elks’ lead to five with an RBI double.
“In my first [at-bat] I didn’t do too well on that strikeout, but I still felt like I had a good approach. After I just forgot about it, put it in the past and kept looking at the future,” Romero said. “When there is runners on base, I just try to put the ball in play, just move the runners, if they are on third base just try and bring them in.”
With three games left in the regular season, Elkton will continue to jockey for positioning in its 2A East region. The Golden Elks are one of four teams in the region to hold eight wins or more in the regular season, alongside C.M. Wright, Fallston and North East. Elkton will visit Delaware’s Caravel Academy on Wednesday, last year’s reigning Delaware state champion Delaware Military Academy on Saturday and will conclude the regular season against North East on Monday.
“Seeing Caravel, DMA and then North East, I think it’s only going to help us,” Kline said. “I always tell these guys wins feel great and the season matters, but how you play in the playoffs matters. You can go undefeated in the regular season and lose in the [opening] round of the playoffs. I think seeing those guys hopefully gives us some good looks.”
Game Notes: Monday’s matchup served as senior day for Perryville. The eight seniors honored included Jake Berg, Gage Poorman, Wyatt Bovankovich, Jared Eldreth, Ty Patchell, Parker Givens, Cam Kestner and Seth Spier.
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