WALDORF — During a spring in which any Anne Arundel County baseball team could dominate one day and fall flat the next, Chesapeake baseball just followed the pattern.
Unfortunately for the Cougars’ Class 3A state title aspirations, they happened to land in the latter category Saturday night.
Though Chesapeake proved itself more than capable of overcoming deficits all season, scarce hitting and some untimely outs on the basepaths cost the Cougars a chance just to counter Magruder’s 4-0 triumph — its first title in program history — at Regency Furniture Stadium.
Only two of the Colonels’ four runs were scored by hits; the other two crossed home via wild pitch. But in return, even some of the Cougars’ sharpest sluggers could not outfox Colonels starting pitcher Xavier Headen, who limited Chesapeake to five hits and three walks while recording eight strikeouts over six innings.
“You’re going to run into an arm that’s on — and he was on,” Chesapeake coach Jeff Young said. “Kind of thought we had a good practice hitting the ball yesterday, and it just really didn’t fall for us today.”
Chesapeake (16-8) stumbled over rocky losses to Arundel, Broadneck, Crofton and Annapolis, among others, in early spring, seemingly settling for a mid-tier finish among the county, if not lower.
No one thought that after the Cougars dealt a crushing 10-4 blow to Severna Park on April 11. And while Chesapeake couldn’t escape the regular season without a handful of disappointments, the Cougars — a mix of seniors who’d won the state championship in 2022 and underclassmen who aspired for more — were undeniably good.
“This team has grown over the year. They bonded and they stuck together — even today,” Young said.
Senior Cole Parsons hugged his teammates on the first base line while tears turned his face red. No one, he said, had really expected Chesapeake to survive past the second round of the playoffs — 3A baseball was simply too good, and outsiders’ opinions of his team wrongfully low. Admittedly, at best, Parsons “hoped” they’d make it further.
But the Cougars did just that, most recently rallying and shocking powerhouse Stephen Decatur in the state semifinals.
“There’s not one person on this team I wouldn’t take a bullet for,” Parsons (2-for-2) said. “That’s why this hurts so bad. I know what we could do. Just sucks we came out flat today.”
Chesapeake had its chance, and didn’t take it.
Two walks and a single loaded the bases in the first inning against Headen, priming heavy bats such as Carter Drab and Sean Carroll to pad the scoreboard early — maybe even enough to staple down the victory right then, just as the Cougars had during several rounds this postseason.
Three consecutive outs nixed that option.
“When [Headen] got out of that, we kind of helped build momentum for him a little bit,” Young said.
And when Chesapeake pitcher Dylan Adams offered Magruder a similar situation with a pair of walks, the Colonels took it. Headen hit a two-run single to left field, a lead that would settle unchallenged.
Adversity knocked Chesapeake from all sides.
In the top of the third, Parsons dashed to second base and was called safe by the second base umpire. The Cougars had spoiled the first inning and gone quietly in the second, but here was a chance to respond, even with two outs.
The home plate umpire, however, disagreed with the call. As Colonels fielders ran past Parsons, the Chesapeake senior stood still, hoping for debate that never came.
The same changeup occurred two innings later. Before sophomore catcher Owen Lucas struck out, junior Keller Herzberger stole second — about three beats before Magruder second baseman Matt Strahan’s glove swept back to tag him. Like Parsons, Herzberger initially earned a safe call from the second base umpire and Chesapeake had a potential run in position.
That is, until the home plate umpire left his post again with a single shake of his fist — out.
This time, Young rushed from the dugout to plead his player’s case, but was sent away without a change of course.
“I thought the first call he made was right,” Young said, “and I disagree with the second one.”
Chesapeake’s best, and nearly last, chance to fight back died on the basepaths in a different fashion. The Cougars couldn’t have had a better shot at a rally when the top of the order, Lucas Slayton and Parsons, each singled in the top of the sixth. No outs hindered their path — until both Cougars tried to steal.
Magruder first baseman Hudson Green hit third baseman Colin McCullough before Slayton hit the bag. Two more strikeouts shattered another opportunity to score.
“That’s probably not understanding the situation and the score,” Young said. “It happens. It’s tough. You just try to make sure you can grow from it so that next time we get here, it doesn’t happen.”
With those unexpectedly shortened innings — and several more with even less to capitalize upon — Chesapeake had nothing to counter Magruder’s advances.
After a shaky start, Adams seemed to settle the earth beneath him in the top of the second, striking out two and feeding one ball to his fielders in the second inning, just as his Magruder counterpart had. The Colonels remained silent through the third.
And then, in the fourth, Adams’ command slipped. The Chesapeake sophomore delivered pitches Magruder could cook with: a single and two walks to load the bases. Green watched each pitch hungrily, fouling off anything close — until the one that was anything but.
Adams’ wild pitch skittered over the long distance to the backstop while Magruder jogged in its third run. Moments later, Lucas gripped the sophomore starter in a hug as Adams handed the ball to his coach.
“We’re not here without him,” Young said, “or our catcher, who we thought we wouldn’t even have this year [because of injury]. The future’s bright. We’ll take a couple days off and hopefully they’ll come back focused and keep trying to get back here.”
Chesapeake — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 5 0
Magruder — 2 0 0 1 1 0 X — 4 6 0
WP: MG — Headen; LP: CH — Adams
2B: MG — Headen
