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4A State Championship Preview

May 27, 2016

Northeast Prospect ID

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 By Jerry Shank
Maryland Scouting Director

After two weeks of intense playoff action, the 4A playoffs come to an end tonight at Shipley field between 4A West champion Quince Orchard and 4A North champion Bel Air. The 4A playoffs this year has given us plenty of twist and turns with upsets around every corner.

Before we break into the playoff matchup, lets take a look at how both our competitors got there.

Bel Air

The Bobcats have made an impressive pitching run throughout the 4A playoff to the tune of giving up only one run in the five playoff games. That’s four shutouts, one of which was a no-hitter. In the sectionals they defeated Parkville 10-0, Kenwood 12-1, and won their sectional championship 1-0 over Catonsville. In the regional finals the bobcats defeated Howard High school by a score of 3-0. Then in their state semifinal Bel Air cruised to an 8-0 victory over south champion Bowie.

Quince Orchard

The Cougars have also had their fair share of pitching perform for them in this playoffs. They have been battle tested and had one of the more bigger upsets when they defeated defending champion and one of the favorites of the tournament in Gaithersburg by a commanding 5-0 score. QO made it through sectionals defeating Wootton in the first round by a score of 4-3, then had a commanding 12-2 victory over Kennedy before the aforementioned win over Gaithersburg for the sectional championship. They defeated Bethesa-Chevy Chase for the regional crown by a count of 3-1, and won their semifinal matchup in one of the more exciting games of the state playoffs in a 2-1 victory over Leonardtown in 10 innings.

Key players

When you look at the Bobcats the three key name that have been the steady force during the season have been Shippensburg recruit Jack Jenkens followed by juniors Michael Yetter and Zack Radcliffe. Those three players have been the key arms on the mound for Bel Air and have also provided plenty of the offensive punch as well…Quince orchard has had a special season from junior Sean Cole to the tune of a batting average around .500 the entire season. Him and senior Nick Wong are the two big offensive threats followed by Kyle Rinehimer and Jack Ropelewski. Ropelewski and Wong led the team in innings on the mound and have anchored a pitching staff with a team ERA of 2.11.

and the winner is...

Bel Air has been in and out of the Maryland power rankings throughout the year. Quince Orchard has largely been on the outside looking in and have proved that they were more than deserving to be in the top 25. This game looks like it has the potential to be a low scoring and fast moving game that could be over in about 90 minutes.  Both sides pitch well and look for the final to be a 2-1 or 3-2 ball game. No more picking winners at this point. Either way it has been a magical season on both sides

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