HAGERSTOWN, Md. – Blake Custer and Matt Mallardi did things they don’t normally do on Friday.
But luckily for the North Hagerstown baseball team, they came through and did just enough to help the Hubs get by.
Custer provided a go-ahead two-run hit with two outs in the fifth and Mallardi came in from center field to collect a five-out save in just his third appearance to help the Hubs secure an 8-5 win over South Hagerstown in the City Championship Series, sponsored by Fulton Bank, at Meritus Park.
Not so long ago, none of it would have been expected.
Custer admits he’s been in a season-long slump, while Mallardi exiled himself from the mound until recently.
But for North coach Justin Lewis, all this seem to happen during desperate time.
“We came out and we knew we were going to have to piece our arms together,” Lewis said. “We have a big game (Saturday), that we’re kind of looking ahead to, and finish up Monday. I’m just kind trying not to run anyone out there for too long.
“We’re usually one or two hits away from scoring a lot of runs in innings. Sometimes we get that hit and sometimes we don’t, but that’s baseball.”
Weather and early nightfall have pushed have altered the Hubs’ season.
North will have played six games in the last eight days and nine in the last 14 come Monday to end the regular season.
Two of those games came on April 27 against Smithsburg. The first was the completion of a game for early April, followed by one that ended in a 6-6 tie by darkness after eight innings.
The “game time” adrenaline and another meeting with South kept North moving forward.
The Rebels took an early 5-2 lead after three innings before North tied the game in the fourth against South starter Shawn Higgins.
Custer entered the game trying to shake up his season. He battled Higgins, fouling off pitches down the right-field line before settling for two walks.
“I wanted to be more aggressive with the approach,” Custer said. “I’ve been struggling. I probably had, like, four hits the whole season. Coach Lew talked to me before the game. He pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, let’s be aggressive and have an approach up there.’
“The first two at bats, I had good at bats. Didn’t really get much.”
Suddenly, that change came when South’s Brayden Ocasio came in to pitch the fifth.
The inning opened with Jackson Coulter and Jordan Gingerich drawing walks and advancing on Joey Dorsey’s sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Custer – and his approach – got the opportunity.
“The first pitch was his pitch on the outside corner,” Custer recalled. “Second pitch, was a little high for my liking, but it’s fine. It was O-2 and you got to battle. And then he threw my pitch. I just hit it down.”
Custer’s sharp grounder on Meritus’ turf field scooted past South shortstop Tyson Mangold for the key two-run single to give North the 7-5 lead.
“I hit the barrel,” Custer said. “I know the shortstop is quick and I thought he was going to get there. I saw it go over his glove and it was like ‘Let’s go.’ Two RBIs come in. The dugout’s pumping. Yeah. It was good.”
Dorsey came on as North’s third pitcher in the fourth inning and pitched well until he started losing his release point in the sixth. He issued consecutive one-out walks to Ethan Shepherd, Higgins and Ryan Ragland to load the bases.
Lewis came out and called Mallardi in from center field, who was not on the Hubs’ pitching staff until recently.
“I just didn’t really want to (pitch anymore),” Mallardi said of his absence. “And then, I just had a feeling again. I was excited. I was ready for (the situation).”
Mallardi struck out RJ Howitt and got Logan Hammond to ground to first to get North out of the jam. He returned in the seventh, escaping two walks by striking out two. The second one turned into a double play as a South runner was picked off to end the game.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “I knew I was going get them out and get out of (sixth) inning. I’m just throwing strikes and letting defense play. The last inning? I just threw strikes.”
Suddenly, Lewis has another arm to “piece together.”
“We recently just kind of discovered that he can do that,” Lewis said. “So, the last couple of games, he’s been kind of the guy we go to at the end. Is he our closer? Sure. I’m in on that. He has been the last couple of games.”
For South, it was a game of missed opportunities. The Rebels stranded 13 runners on the base, including two innings when the left the bases loaded. That and three errors leading North to the two tying runs in the fourth hurt South the most.
South grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second against starter Jackson Coulter, who lasted just 1 1/3 innings because of his pitch count, and Cole Bratburd. Bratburd came on with one out in the second with a runner on first.
Derek Kline brought home South’s first run with a sacrifice fly and Luke Leisinger drew a bases-loaded walk for the second.
North countered with three in the third to take the lead. Bratburd and Custer drew walks and Eli Brown reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Mallardi and James Ortiz drove in the first and third runs with sacrifice flies around Custer scoring on a balk for the 3-2 lead.
South bounced back with three in the third to retake the lead on a two-run single by Kline, followed by a run-scoring hit by Ocasio.
The Hubs made it 5-5 in the fourth with a Bratbund single and South’s three fielding errors.
North picked up an insurance run in the sixth for the three-run lead when Mallardi led off by walking, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Ortiz’s RBI single.
Dorsey notched the win with 2 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings work with four walks and three strikeouts. Mallardi got the save with 1 2/3 innings work without allowing a hit but had two walks and three strikeouts.
Ocasio was roughed up for three runs on two hits in two innings for the loss, allowing four walks while striking out three.
North had six hitters sharing its six hits with Custer and Ortiz driving in two runs each.
The Rebels finished with five hits, led by Kline with a single, sacrifice fly and three RBIs. Ocasio had two hits and drew two walks.
Now comes the time for North Hagerstown to compete their marathon with a game with Linganore on Saturday and Boonsboro on Monday.
“It’s a lot of baseball and not a lot of days. So, I don’t know,” Lewis said. “We’re having fun and it’s keeping us on our game.”
