Vikings top Starr's Mill in AAAA baseball final

Derek Hooper hit two home runs for Northgate in the championship series. Photo/Michael Boylan.

In two of the three state championship games between Starr’s Mill and Northgate, the Panthers dug themselves some early holes and, despite some amazing efforts, particularly in Monday’s final, couldn’t come back.

Starr’s Mill won game one 3-2 behind an impressive pitching performance from Drew Johnson, who gave up two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks. The Panthers’ Kevin Koziol drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single in the top of the fourth. Northgate answered in the bottom of the inning with three straight hits and an RBI from Drew Tolbert. Starr’s Mill’s Jesse Baker led off the fifth with a home run and, like the see-saw battle it was, the Vikings responded with a home run by Tyler Marvin. Myles Jaye drove in the winning run in the seventh.

Game two was the exact opposite for Starr’s Mill. Ken Jackson took the hill for the Panthers, gave up a lead-off home run to Derek Hooper on the second pitch of the game and followed it up with a walk, an out, a double, two more walks (one which brought in a run), a sacrifice fly from Marvin and another out. After another walk to start the second (Starr’s Mill would walk nine Northgate runners in game two), Michael Jeanes came on in relief. He held the Vikings scoreless in the second and he and Jaye each drove in runs in the bottom of the inning with singles to make the game 3-2.

It wasn’t a close game for much longer. In the top of the third Northgate struck for four more runs. Weston Perry hit a double that got stretched into a triple on an error which drove in three runs and Kyle Lachance drove in one more off of a misplayed bunt. A wild pitch in the fifth brought another Northgate runner home. Conner Kendrick had an RBI double in the sixth and one more run came in for Northgate. Johnson had an RBI single for the Panthers in the bottom of the inning, but they couldn’t muster much else. Pitcher Paul Rojas earned the win.

Game three started off all Northgate. The Vikings got eight runs off Danny Beadling in the first inning. Tolbert and Lachance both drove in two runs in the inning, while Hooper, Catlan Kendrick, Marvin and Chris Brewer each drove in one. Jackson took over pitching duties with two outs in the first. Lachance drove in another run in the third and Hooper hit his second home run of the series to give Northgate a 10-0 lead. Marvin added another RBI single in the fourth making it 11-0. The Panthers got a two run shot from catcher David Norman and Jaye added an RBI later in the inning to cut the lead to 11-3.

The Vikings added one more run off an error, while Koziol and Paul Patterson each drove in a run for Starr’s Mill in the sixth. Koziol added two more in the seventh and Northgate walked a run home after hitting Norman with a pitch. Ultimately, Northgate won 12-8. Conner Kendrick got the win for Northgate. He also won the clinching game in the semifinal series with Marist.

“All year our pitching has kept us in games,” said Northgate head coach Greg Hamilton who used Daniel McIntyre and Rojas in relief in the end of the clinching game. “Paul did a great job closing it out and he just kept coming.”

All three outs Rojas recorded in the seventh were strikeouts.

“I knew it was going to be a ballgame and I’m really proud of the boys,” said Hamilton. “After the first inning, I told them eight runs wasn’t going to be enough. Coach Moseley’s teams fight to the end.”

Northgate out hit Starr’s Mill 24-19. The leading hitters for the Vikings were Hooper with five hits, two home runs and three RBI. Tolbert and Brewer each had four hits and Tolbert drove in four runs. Kyle Lachance drove in four runs with two hits and Weston Perry drove in three runs on two hits. Conner Kendrick and Marvin both had three hits.

Starr’s Mill’s leading hitter was Koziol who had four RBIs on five hits, while Norman, Jaye and Johnson each had three hits and Norman and Jaye both drove in three runs.