HAGERSTOWN – Baseball is one of James Ortiz’s main pursuits, but he proved he’s pretty good at another game.
The waiting game.
For the first half of Friday’s game against Smithsburg , Ortiz was just a guy standing at shortstop for North Hagerstown. But from the sixth inning on, he was The Man.
Ortiz scored from second on Eli Brown’s perfectly placed bunt with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Hubs to a regular-season ending 4-3 victory over Smithburg.
That was the curtain call after making four critical defensive plays to keep North in the game.
“After we got out of the top of the sixth, I kind of knew it was my turn to do something,” Ortiz said. ‘I made it work and scored the run.”
Ortiz got North’s winning rally started by lining a one-out single to right center field off Gavin Blumenauer, Smithsburg’s third pitcher. He then stole second with Brown at the plate.
It became the perfect, game-ending storm for North to win its sixth-straight game.
Brown rolled a bunt down the line, forcing Smithsburg’s third baseman to charge the play. When the ball was field, there was a glance to first to make a play.
It was all Ortiz needed to round third and charge for home, getting there before the ball reached Smithsburg catcher Ryan Darr.
“I trusted my speed,” Ortiz said. “I kind of read it, and it kind of bounced and died a little bit. I got there and put in a pretty good slide.”
As it turned out, the final play was a total improvisation.
“I didn’t call for the bunt,” North Coach Justin Lewis said. “I said (to Brown) ‘Hey, drive him in.’ He’s the best bunter I have ever seen. He just does it on his own.”
Brown sized up his situation and went to his strength.
“I’m pretty decent (at bunting),” the junior said. “I was confident in the situation. It was a 2-0 count and I saw (the third baseman) back up. He didn’t think I was going to bunt and I just laid it down the line.
“I can place it down the line all the time. I can bunt over the first base but in that situation, I just wanted to get it down the third-base line.”
The bunt was the biggest play of the game only because of Ortiz’s glovework in the final two innings.
It started with the most critical of plays in the top of the sixth.
With the score tied at 3, Smithsburg connected for a one-out single by Jaxon Teson, followed by Heath Githens’ double against North reliever Carter Cunningham.
Chase Sarber, Smithsburg’s starting pitcher, hit a grounder to Ortiz’s left at short. He made the tough scoop and gunned the throw to third to get Teson leaning off the bag for the second out.
“I know that guy. He’s a friend of mine and I knew he was fast,” Ortiz said. “I kind of checked him twice and faked him a little bit and then tossed it over. I was surprised with it, but I think he slipped a little bit while trying to get back.
“It was big. With runners on in scoring position, we were just looking for an out.”
It was bigger than that for the Hubs.
“We were playing up to stop the run with runners on second and third,” said Lewis, who is also an infielder when he plays. “He got a backhand in the hole. The runner kind of got caught in no man’s land.
“It was really a heads-up play. Huge. Big play.”
The momentum shift ended Smithsburg’s potential rally.
Ortiz ended the inning and opened the seventh by taking charge on a pair of wind-blown popups for next two big plays.
He closed out the defensive flurry as the middle man on a slowly developing inning-ending double play to put the Hubs in position to win in regulation.
Once Ortiz’s heroics stole the winning run, the Hubs into celebration-mode. The only title this win cinched was of the morale variety.
It was a battle of two of the best Washington County teams featuring players placing high on the county statistical leaderboard.
At stake was momentum heading into next week playoff season. North will enter the Class 3A West playoffs with the No. 1 seed, while Smithsburg looks to be the third seed in the Class 1A West.
Smithsburg put the pressure on the Hubs by forcing North starter Ian Kelley to work long and deep into counts. Kelley wasn’t sharp but he battled for four innings.
Meanwhile, Sarber worked quickly and kept North off-balanced through four innings.
North took a 1-0 in the first inning when Brown was hit by a pitch before stealing second and moving to third on a groundout. Kelley delivered a two-out RBI single to left.
Smithburg struck in the second at Teson led off with a single and stole second. Sarber beat out a bunt for a single, allowing Teson to score from second to tie the score.
The Leopards took a 3-1 lead in third when Gavin Remarge blooped a ball over the mound. Kelley made the play but made an errant throw to first, allowing courtesy runner Garrett Gibson to score.
Teson plated the second run with a grounder to second.
North tied the game bottom of the third on Kelley’s hard, bad-hop grounder to second and a passed ball.
Cunningham won the game in relief with three scoreless innings of work with one walk and one strikeout.
“This game was for momentum to boost us,” Lewis said. “Next week we have the (Central Maryland Conference) championship game on Tuesday, and that game should be fun and they/we have a home game on Saturday to start the playoffs.”
