Crofton baseball falls to Walt Whitman, 6-2, in first state semifinal appearance

GAITHERSBURG — Crofton baseball’s inaugural trip to the state semifinals ended in disappointment. However, coach Brooks Miller was buoyed by his belief it won’t be the last.

Starter Wells Twining spearheaded a dominant performance by the pitching staff, while catcher Gideon Schwartz sparked the offense with a two-run homer as top-seeded Walt Whitman beat Crofton, 6-2, in the Class 4A state semifinals Tuesday night at Shirley Povich Field.

Shortstop Sammy Berman delivered a two-run single to highlight a three-run third inning for the Vikings, who advanced to the state championship game for the first time in school history. Walt Whitman (18-5) will meet Leonardtown in Friday’s final.

Twining scattered three hits and allowed only one run through three innings for Whitman, which jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings. The Pennsylvania-bound right-hander routinely hit 88 mph on the radar gun and threw strikes, allowing his defense to do the work.

Jacob Goldman gave up an unearned run and notched two strikeouts in the sixth, and Berman set the side down in order in the seventh to earn the save.

“Whitman has been one of the class programs in Montgomery County for five or six years and they have a bunch of great arms,” Miller said. “I think they have five guys that are 85 [mph] plus and two guys that are up around 90. They’re tough to hit.”

Crofton starter Zachary Leinemann threw the ball well but had some control problems, hitting three batters and walking another one. He was charged with five runs on four hits before departing with one out in the third.

Leinemann had two outs in the first inning and a 3-2 count on Schwartz when he threw a fastball up in the zone. Schwartz slammed the offering over the left field fence with tremendous exit velocity, giving Whitman an early 2-0 lead.

A throwing error allowed the leadoff batter to reach base to start the third inning and two hit batters loaded the bases for Berman, who drove a liner into right-center to score two runners. A third came home on a fielder’s choice, and suddenly it was 5-0.

“Zach is a guy that will walk some guys and hit some guys and he kind of uses that to his advantage,” Miller said. “Really, the big blow was the home run in the first inning. It set the wrong tone to start the game. That was one of the few hard hit balls. They had a couple flares and a couple that fell.”

Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Crofton (14-9) missed some scoring opportunities early on by leaving three runners on base.

Center fielder William White singled in the first inning and got stranded at third. Third baseman Jack Woods singled in the second inning then promptly stole second to get into scoring position, but the Cardinals could not muster a timely hit. It was a similar story in the third inning when White walked and reached second on a wild pitch.

Reliever Matthew Donaldson came on to record the final two outs of the third inning then shut down Walt Whitman the rest of the way. Donaldson shut out the Vikings on two hits and recorded four strikeouts to keep the Cardinals within striking distance.

“Matt Donaldson came in and pitched his tail off. He’s been darn good at closing out games during the playoffs,” Miller said.

Crofton spoiled the shutout bid in the fifth inning as first baseman Jason Gifford led off and was hit by a pitch. Gifford stole second, reached third on a single by left fielder Tyler Holt and scored on a groundout off the bat of second baseman William Davis.

The Cardinals used solid base running to score another run in the top of the sixth with shortstop Travis Fleshman drawing a leadoff walk then stealing second base. He moved to third on a sacrifice fly, then scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to 6-2.

“We got down 6-0 and could very easily have mailed it in, but we battled and scratched across two runs. That’s how we’ve been all season. It’s a testament to how hard our team fights,” Miller said. “Hopefully, we put a little pressure on [the Vikings] and made them sweat it out a little bit.”

It was just the third varsity season for Crofton baseball and a major step forward to capture its first region championship by beating North County and Old Mill. The Cardinals graduate five seniors, three of whom (Fleshman, Donaldson and Woods) will continue their careers at Anne Arundel Community College.

“These seniors have put a lot of energy and effort into building a culture and setting a standard. Getting to this point in the playoffs with all the publicity that comes with it … people know about Crofton baseball now,” said Miller, who called up six junior varsity players so they could experience the postseason.

“Moving forward, this is what we expect to do. It’s not an if — we will be back here. If we want to take the next step we have to be able to beat a team like Walt Whitman.”

Crofton (14-9) — 000  011  0 — 2-3-1

Walt Whitman (18-5) — 213  000  X — 6-6-2

WP: Twining. LP: Leinemann.

HR: WW — Schwartz.