Patuxent High School sophomore pitcher Ivan Sypa fires to the plate in the top of the first inning against Huntingtown as Hurricanes’ leadoff batter Logan Hastings prepares to swing. Sypa blanked the Hurricanes through five complete innings and the Panthers emerged with a 5-1 victory over Huntingtown in an early clash of perennial SMAC powers.
Huntingtown High School’s Cole Roschel takes a long lead off first base on Monday as Patuxent’s Joe Wilding looks to keep the Hurricanes’ runner close to the bag. In a clash of perennial SMAC powers, Patuxent emerged with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Hurricanes on Monday.
Huntingtown High School pitcher Mason Wells fires to the plate in the bottom of the first inning against Patuxent’s Nick Boswell. Patuxent jumped on Wells in the early frames and eventually forged a 5-1 victory over the visiting Hurricanes on Monday to remain undefeated on the season.
Patuxent High School’s Nick Boswell takes a lead off first base after earning a one-out walk as Huntingtown first baseman Hunter Thomas protects the bag. Boswell took second on a wild pitch then scored from there on another wild pitch as the Panthers upended the visiting Hurricanes 5-1 to remain undefeated on the season.
Patuxent High School sophomore pitcher Ivan Sypa fires to the plate in the top of the first inning against Huntingtown as Hurricanes’ leadoff batter Logan Hastings prepares to swing. Sypa blanked the Hurricanes through five complete innings and the Panthers emerged with a 5-1 victory over Huntingtown in an early clash of perennial SMAC powers.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Huntingtown High School’s Cole Roschel takes a long lead off first base on Monday as Patuxent’s Joe Wilding looks to keep the Hurricanes’ runner close to the bag. In a clash of perennial SMAC powers, Patuxent emerged with a 5-1 victory over the visiting Hurricanes on Monday.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Huntingtown High School pitcher Mason Wells fires to the plate in the bottom of the first inning against Patuxent’s Nick Boswell. Patuxent jumped on Wells in the early frames and eventually forged a 5-1 victory over the visiting Hurricanes on Monday to remain undefeated on the season.
Staff photo by Ted Black
Patuxent High School’s Nick Boswell takes a lead off first base after earning a one-out walk as Huntingtown first baseman Hunter Thomas protects the bag. Boswell took second on a wild pitch then scored from there on another wild pitch as the Panthers upended the visiting Hurricanes 5-1 to remain undefeated on the season.
In an early season contest pitting two Southern Maryland Athletic Conference squads accustomed to contending for SMAC, region and state titles, the Patuxent High School baseball team maintained its perfect start to the current campaign by upending visiting Huntingtown 5-1 on Monday afternoon.
Patuxent (4-0) had garnered SMAC and region titles last spring then suffered its lone setback of the spring in heartbreaking fashion in the 2A state title game. Longtime Panthers’ coach Keith Powell admitted most of his returning players have already learned to leave the 2022 season behind them and focus on the task at hand in the midst of his 20th season at the helm with Patuxent.
“Last year was a pretty incredible season,” Powell said. “But I think the guys know that while last year was special this year is a new season altogether. It’s been a great opportunity for the new players to step in and show what they can do. Today we made some things happen early and we made some plays on defense, which is always a key for us.”
Patuxent sophomore left-handed pitcher Ivan Sypa held the Hurricanes scoreless in five complete innings of work on Monday to earn the win, yielding five hits and two walks while fanning six batters. The Panthers gave Sypa some run support early, getting one run in the home half of the first, adding two more in the third and another pair in the fourth.
Huntingtown (1-1) had opened the season with a lopsided victory against Westlake on a day when three Hurricanes’ hurlers combined on a perfect game. On Monday, however, starter Mason Wells struggled early and eventually took the loss while allowing three runs, all earned, on just one hit while yielding four walks and committing four wild pitches in just two and one-third innings on the hill.
“We’re going to be looking for guys to step up and provide good pitching,” said Huntingtown coach Guy Smith. “Mason had trouble locating his fastball today and I had to take him out early. We made a few plays defensively. We turned a double play. But we didn’t come out with a lot of energy today and we played with very little emotion.”
Patuxent scored one run against Wells in the bottom of the first when center fielder Nick Boswell worked him for a one-out walk, took second on one wild pitch then scored from second on another wild pitch. In the home half of the third, Matthew Bowie led off with a walk, took second and third on consecutive wild pitches then scored on a single to right by Boswell.
After Smith hooked Wells in favor of Cole Roschel, Boswell took second on a wild pitch then stole third and then was awarded home when Roschel committed a balk. Patuxent added two more runs against Roschel in the bottom of the fourth although only one of the Panthers’ four hits left the infield. Will Hagan plated one run with a single to right then later scored on a squeeze bunt by Bowie.
Long after Sypa departed, Huntingtown foiled the Panthers’ bid for a shutout by getting its lone run in the top of the seventh. Austin Ferreira worked Ryan Moran for a leadoff walk, went to second on a throwing error then scored on a one-out single by Roschel. All five Patuxent runs would be deemed earned on Monday, while the Hurricanes’ lone run was unearned.
Huntingtown had nearly scored in the top of the third against Sypa, only to have that run erased by a stout defensive play. With two outs, Roschel singled to left and Ferreira headed home from second. Panthers’ left fielder Asa Locks fielded the base hit cleanly, delivered a cutoff throw to third baseman Hagan, who relayed home to catcher Kaleb Elliott who tagged out the sliding Ferreira to end the inning.
