Spalding Baseball Wins Second Straight MIAA A Title

Archbishop Spalding starting pitcher Jordan Carr settled in at precisely the right moment as the Cavaliers’ baseball team searched for its second consecutive Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championship May 17 at Ripken Stadium.

The first three hitters of the game reached base to spark a 1-0 lead for Calvert Hall, which needed to win two games over Spalding to win the championship. Carr immediately dashed Calvert Hall’s hopes for a big first inning with a strikeout and double play, setting the tone for a Spalding squad that needed to win just one game over the Cardinals to clinch the title in the double-elimination format.

The lefty Carr was lights out the rest of the way, firing seven innings of five-hit, one-run ball. Juniors Billy Godrick and Barrett Smith hit run-scoring singles in support of Carr, and the Cavaliers defeated Calvert Hall 4-1 en route to their second straight A Conference title under head coach Joe Palumbo and third title in five years.

“It means that a lot of people have put a lot of hard work into this program, starting with our athletic department, our faculty, our staff, our players obviously, our coaching staff,” Palumbo said. “You don’t do what we did unless there’s a full commitment to the program.

“To be able to do it against Calvert Hall – really, the gold standard over the last decade in this league – that shows how far this program has come. What our goals are [and] what our objectives are every year is to be here playing for a championship.”

Spalding struggled against Calvert Hall starter Bradley Weber for the first three innings, but a 40-minute rain delay might have aided Spalding’s efforts. Sophomore Nick Vermillion greeted Weber with a long double to left after the delay, and Godrick’s run-scoring single to right knocked Weber out of the game.

Trevor Sprinkle entered for Calvert Hall and was victimized by an error that allowed Godrick to score, which handed Spalding a 2-1 lead. The Cavaliers later padded their lead, with a wild pitch allowing LaVale Hodges to score in the fifth and Smith’s single in the sixth scoring David Harding.

Meanwhile, Carr kept firing zeroes, undeterred by the delay. Carr threw seven innings of two-run ball in last year’s championship-clinching game against Calvert Hall, as well.

“It was just a mental reset for our whole team,” Carr said of the rain delay. “We got ourselves together and we really came out and said, ‘This is the championship, we’ve got to step up and play.’”

Through Carr struck out six, he was also backed by a quality defensive effort throughout the contest. Carr threw two double plays thanks to flawless execution by second baseman Harding and shortstop Kevin Heiss. Smith made a diving stop of a hard grounder at first base by Mike Finn to lead off the second inning.

Junior catcher Carter Sears eliminated a leadoff base runner in the fifth inning with Spalding up by just one. Center fielder Billy Godrick tracked down three fly balls in the spacious outfield at Ripken Stadium. Carr helped himself out by picking off a runner after a leadoff walk in the fourth inning.

“The double plays were huge, especially that first inning,” Palumbo said. “They could’ve done a lot of damage in that first inning, and we were able to get a ground ball and get out of there. Billy runs down a couple balls that if we’re playing at Spalding, those might be out of here. But fortunately, we’re playing here today, and with him in center field, if it’s not out of here, he’s going to catch it. [Carr] pitched to contact and our guys made plays behind him.”

Nine seniors on the club will graduate, including Carr, Heiss, Ezio Rebechi, Anthony DeCesaris, Tommy Galvin, Aaron Barclay, Freddie Wall, Zach Gunning and Matt Binder. But Spalding will return a host of key contributors next year, as six players who were in the starting lineup May 17 – Harding, Hodges, Smith, Vermillion, Godrick and Sears – will be back.

“It feels awesome,” Godrick said of Spalding’s second straight title. “Right when we finished last year, immediately the next day the goal was [to] win another one. When I first came in as a sophomore, my first meeting with the coaches, they said, ‘We think, with the talent we have, we can win three in a row. So starting tomorrow, it’s right back at it again to be here next year.”