AMERICAN CORNER — Jordan Regulski never let the door get open. Daniel Hesson made sure it stayed shut.
Colonel Richardson High’s dynamic pitching duo combined to throw a two-hitter Tuesday as the Colonels defeated St. Michaels, 3-1, to clinch the North Bayside baseball championship.
“When you walk into a situation like this, I’m a lot more blessed than a lot of people that take over programs,” Colonel Richardson first-year head coach Garrett Nepert said after the Colonels improved to 15-1 overall, 7-0 North Bayside with their 11th straight victory. “I’m grateful. But this is all about the kids. I don’t do too much. They do it all.”
Even if Colonels loses Thursday at North Dorchester, it would still win the division title based on defeating St. Michaels (14-2, 7-1). Colonel defeated the Saints, 6-5, last week, but Tuesday’s second meeting between the two teams is the one that counts toward the division standings.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” St. Michaels head coach Brian Femi said. “You can’t give a good team like this all the opportunities that we gave them. And they played better defense and made smarter plays that we did. I told our guys their baseball IQ just wasn’t there today. I told them that’s not their fault. That’s my fault because we’ve got to find away to teach it better.”
Regulski and St. Michaels ace Jacob Seek were locked in a scoreless duel, when Colonel scratched across two runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Brayden Dadds worked a one-out walk. Derrick Mitchell was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Manny Wallace then popped out to St. Michaels first baseman Anthony Massaro in foul territory on the first-base side. With no one covering home, Dadds broke for home and dove across the plate in a cloud of dust for a 1-0 lead. Massaro got the ball to catcher Hunter Gottleib, whose tried to throw out Mitchell at third. But the throw to third was off the mark, bringing home Mitchell for a 2-0 lead.
“We did what we needed to do for sure,” Nepert said. “We still got a way to go. We’ve got a week before we’ve got to play our best baseball.”
St. Michaels pulled within 2-1 in the top of the fifth. Regulski issued a leadoff walk to Ethan Royer. The junior right-hander struck out Brock Grow before getting Connor Wheeler to bounce into a fielder’s choice. Wheeler stole second, moved to third on a passed ball, then raced home on a passed ball. Regulski struck out Jacob Bealefeld to end the inning.
Colonel regained its two-run lead in the home fifth. Seek walked Jack Walls and Regulski to open the inning. Hesson then dropped a bunt up the first-base line. Massaro fielded the ball, looked to third, then threw late to first, loading the bases. Seek fanned Dadds, but Walls scored on a passed ball to make it 3-1. Seek walked Mitchell before retiring the next two batters to end the inning.
Regulski yielded a clean single to Pearson Greenwood (2 for 3) to leadoff the second. But that was the only hit St. Michaels mustered against the Colonel starter. Regulski allowed one run, walked four, hit Will Sherwood twice with pitches and struck out seven.
“He competes,” Femi said of Regulski, who has verbally committed to Wake Forest University. “He battles you. He is crazy athletic; makes plays that pitchers might not make, but makes them look easy.”
Hesson came on at the start of the sixth inning. The senior left-hander who is headed to Salisbury University after graduation, gave up a one-out single to Greenwood in the sixth and nothing else, striking out four of the seven batters he faced.
“They’re both fantastic kids,” Femi said of Hesson and Regulski, who have worked at Femi’s baseball camps the past two summers. “Not only are they good baseball players but they’re good people.
“He carries this team,” Femi said of Hesson. “Mentally, he’s a leader for them.”
Nepert kept his praise for his two pitchers brief and to the point.
“Excellent,” Nepert said. “That’s about all I got. I thought they attacked the zone. They worked to their strengths.”
Seek, who struck out seven and walked seven, gave up a leadoff single to Walls (2 for 3) to start the game. It was Colonel's only hit off Seek. Grow came on in relief with a man on in the sixth. he gave up a one-out single to Walls in the sixth and finished with two strikeouts and a walk.
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