SMITHSBURG, Md. – The Smithburg baseball team prepared for everything as it entered the Maryland Class 1A playoffs.
“Come playoff time, you got to score every run you can,” said Leopards’ coach Patrick Moore.
Believing that, Smithburg worked on some of the finer – lesser used – points of their game to get ready. Afterall, the goal is to play at least one more game than in 2025 – a run ended when the Leopards were eliminated in the state semifinals.
With all the preparation boxes checked, Smithsburg gave a slight turn to superstition.
Rubbing the lucky rabbit’s foot came in the form of sending senior Chas Sarber to the mound to start the opener … and he was his lucky charming self.
Saber fired a complete game – and ignited the Leopards’ offense as the leadoff hitter – to guide third-seed Smithsburg to a 12-2 victory over sixth-seed Francis Scott Key in six innings on Thursday in the 1A West II opener.
With the victory, Smithsburg advances to play at No. 2-seed Brunswick on Saturday in the West II semifinals. The Railroaders had a first-round bye.
“We tinkered with who we were going throw,” Moore said. “Chase has started our first game in the last three playoffs. We knew what we were going to get out of him, especially being a senior. Chase threw very well today, in a senior leadership position and an experience position.”
Luck had little to do with it.
Smithsburg overpowered FSK, scoring at least a run in all six innings, while Sarber held the Eagles to four hits with only one of the two runs being earned. He set FSK down in order in three of the six innings.
“I’ve always threw first round for playoffs,” Sarber said. “I got ahead of them and let my team do the work for defense.
“Fastballs outside were just on it. Curveballs were hit or miss, but I didn’t really mix in any changeups. They put fastballs in play and we just made the defensive plays behind us.”
Sarber added three hits and an RBI at top of Smithsburg’s batting order, which help set the table for a different kind of win – a playoff-style one – for the Leopards.
Smithsburg, normally known for big-hit production, used three sacrifice flies, three sacrifice bunts and three stolen bases to construct the victory. In fact, Luke Scott hit the only home run in the game, which came in the sixth to give the Leopards their last two runs to end the 10-run victory.
“We worked on (this style) the last two days,” Moore said. “We knew we weren’t going to see a lot of (velocity). We worked on big slow breakers and slower fastballs. We also did a lot of manufacturing runs, which is different for us.
“It’s a great job on that and then we still answered with Luke’s cut at the end – the big home run for the walk-off.”
The Leopards laid the groundwork for the win long before Scott’s homer.
Smithsburg sent 11 batters to the plate for a pair of two-run innings around Sarber retiring the first six Eagles he faced.
The Leopards grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first as Sarber and George Mantz greeted FSK starter Luke Krebs with opening singles. Courtesy runner Desmond DeJesus and Mantz scored on sacrifice flies by Jaxon Teson and Mason Oates.
Smithsburg upped the lead to 4-0 in the second as Scott led off with a single and scored on Collin Burras’ double. Burras scored on Sarber’s second single.
Sarber lost some of his sharpness, while sitting through Smithsburg’s lengthy rallies in the first two innings. He allowed an unearned run in the third and was touched for FSIK’s only other run in the fourth on an RBI single by Krebs.
Smithsburg erased any effects of the Eagles’ first run by scoring three in the third. Teson led off with a double and eventually scored on Gavin Ramarge’s single. Burras brought in Ramarge with a sacrifice fly. Scott produced the seventh run by reaching on an error, advancing on a wild pitch and the sacrifice fly before crossing the plate on a balk for the 7-1 lead.
“Right now, what we’ve locked into is something we’ve been looking for all year,” Moore said. “We are fully capable of (playing this style), but it’s stuff we work on in practice and just don’t need in games because most of our games, we’re scoring 10, 15 runs so early.
‘It was great to execute that, especially early, especially in a playoff game. You steal that momentum early, especially in a home game. I just hope we can continue that in the Brunswick on Saturday.”
Smithburg made it 9-2 in the fourth on two-run single by Oates.
The Leopards added a run in the fifth on Heath Githens’ safety squeeze bunt.
Scott ended the game with his two-out homer after Ramarge singled.
Smithsburg battered FSK’s three pitchers for 13 hits and four walks. Krebs lasted 2 1/3 inning and was charged with six runs on seven hits. Jacob Etzler and Nate Walters finished the game for the Eagles.
Oates bolstered Sarber’s three hits with a hit, a sacrifice fly and three RBIs, while Scott tacked on two hits and three RBIs. Teson and Ramarge added two hits each.
All the commotion on offense allowed Sarber to control FSK with four strikeouts while walking three.
But his playoff-opening luck stayed true.
“It definitely picked me up because putting runs on the board boosts my confidence, so I don’t have to do as much work,” Sarber said. “As long as we don’t have as many errors and we can hit the ball, we’re good. … And we’ll make it far, just like last year.”
