A strong outing on the mound by Colin Barrett, a four-RBI performance by Mark Windle, and a combined nine runs in the third and fourth innings not only propelled the Boys’ Latin baseball to a commanding 11-1 road win against defending MIAA B champions St. Mary’s but also ended a disappointing two-game slide for the Lakers, who remain in contention for the league’s Black Division title.
Barrett, a hard-throwing right-hander, limited the Saints (4-6, 3-4 MIAA B) to a run in four innings of work with eight strikeouts. He worked out of potential trouble in the first and third innings with three straight strikeouts each time. Reliever Cayden Musick followed with five punchouts in his three innings of work.
“I think the curveball worked really well,” Barrett said. “[I was able to get] a bunch of swings and misses. The fastball was able to complement the curveball. They worked well together. The win’s huge. After two losses, getting back on the right track definitely puts a different mentality on the team.”
Offensively, Windle, the Lakers’ leadoff hitter, sparked the offense with a sacrifice fly in the team’s three-run third inning, and then a bases-clearing double in Boys’ Latin’s decisive six-run fourth inning for an insurmountable 10-1 advantage.
“This is huge,” said Windle, who squad dropped decisions of 7-3 to McDonogh and 1-0 to Severn the past two weeks. “This is a big turnaround game after two tough losses, close games. I think we’re back on the right track.”
Boys’ Latin (7-2, 5-2 MIAA B) opened the game’s scoring in the top of the first on an errant throw to first base on an infield single by Shumate that scored an aggressive Stockton from first base.
The Saints looked to respond in the bottom of the first with runners on second and third and two down, but Barrett struck out Blake Dyer looking to end the threat.
Two innings later, the Saints used a bloop single to shallow left field by Colin Talbot that just eluded a diving Windle to bring home Dominic Hicks, who started the rally with double to left center, to knot the score at 1.
“Definitely, it got away from us,” Saints coach Michael Bronakoski said. “I think early on, we had some chances to score. We were kind of knocking on the door and couldn’t get the big hit. When you’re playing good teams, teams that can swing it, and you don’t take care of those opportunities, you open the door for them, and they did what they’re capable of. They took advantage when we gave them opportunities.”
The contest did not remain tied for long as the Lakers came right back with three runs on a bases-loaded wild pitch, Windle’s sacrifice fly to center, and a run-scoring single to right field by Colton Bordick in the top of the fourth for a 4-1 advantage.
The Lakers broke the game open with six runs in the fifth that included the three-run double to right center field by Windle. Bordick then doubled in Windle, and Barrett produced a run-scoring single to help his cause. Boys’ Latin also scored on a balk for the commanding nine-run lead.
“It was just a little fastball,” said Windle of the pitch he doubled on. “I was under it a lot, so I was just trying to stay on top. I got a nice piece of it, though, the other way.
“We were under a lot of things, fouling a lot of balls off. We just kind of started to stay on top, and that’s when the line drives started.”
The Lakers added one more run in the top of the seventh on an error.
