With a strong finish to the regular season, the Flint Hill Huskies (10-12, 8-4) entered the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference baseball tournament as the No. 3 seed in the high-school competition, rallying to edge No. 6 seed St. James, 6-5, in that opening round.
With that victory, the Huskies, having started the season 0-7, have won seven straight games entering the MAC semifinals against the No. 2 seed Maret Frogs. Those seven losses included five against teams ranked in private-school statewide polls.
The Huskies’ last setback, coming in extra innings, was by a 4-2 score to No. 1-ranked Division II team Highlands.
“We’re a super-young team and we played a tough schedule early,” Flint Hill coach Mitch Mendler said. “We gained experience at the varsity level in those early games and found what it takes to play top competition. The players struggled early but didn’t give up, worked at it and have found an identity.”
There are only four seniors, of which two start, included on Flint Hill’s roster.
Prior to the MAC tournament, Flint Hill capped the regular season with a 7-4 non-conference win over Woodberry Forest on May 4.
P.J. Lyons (two doubles, one RBI) and Brennan Lublin each had three hits and Ben Meeks had a hit and two RBI. Jackson Speer was the winning pitcher. He allowed no earned runs, two hits and struck out six in 5 2/3 innings of starting work.
The Huskies’ previous game resulted in a 6-5 win over Sidwell Friends. Meeks doubled, had three hits and an RBI; Zach Rachinski and Jake Blazejowski each added two hits; Connor Ryan and Sebastian Gratacos each had a hit and two RBI; and staff pitching ace Vincenzo Fiorino was the starting and winning pitcher. The junior right-hander struck out five.
“This team has learned to throw strikes and we have cut down on walks and errors,” Mendler said. “On offense, we’ve put the ball in play more to put pressure on opponents and we use speed to our advantage.”
In the win over St. James at Flint Hill, Fiorino, the starting catcher, doubled home three runs in the sixth inning to give Flint Hill the 6-5 lead. The Huskies scored four runs in the sixth inning.
"Right guy in the right spot," Mendler said of Fiorino's hit.
Meeks and Ryan each had two hits and Blazejowski and Lyons each had a hit and one RBI. Michael Morgan pitched five innings of relief to get the win, allowing one earned run.
