No. 3 Severna Park muscles past Broadneck

Severna Park’s baseball team put 11 runs on the scoreboard Monday against Broadneck, but they weren’t needed with ace junior righthander Sean Williams on the bump.

The 6-foot-1, 205 pound Williams was on as the visiting and fourth-ranked Falcons remained undefeated with an 11-3 rout of the No. 6 Bruins in an Anne Arundel County match in Cape St. Claire.

The Falcons (4-0 overall, 3-0 Anne Arundel) entered yesterday’s game with comfortable victories over Annapolis (16-0), South River (10-4) and Mount St. Joseph of the MIAA A Conference (14-2). After losing the last two Class 4A state championship games to Sherwood of Montgomery, the Falcons have their sites on the crown jewel of the state’s public school’s highest class.

”This might be the best team I have had,” said Falcons coach Eric Milton, a former University of Maryland pitcher who went on to pitch 12 seasons in the big leagues. “Our pitching is strong with Sean and four other pitchers and we’re going to score runs as we have shown in the first four games.”

Sean Williams only gave up two hits in five innings of work Monday, striking out 11 Bruins (2-1, 2-1 Anne Arundel) along the way and walking only one Bruin on 84 pitches. He also fanned 11 in the 16-0 romp over Annapolis.

“We split with Broadneck last season and this was a big win because Broadneck always has a good team,“ said Williams, who was used as a reliefer last season and has been throwing 85 to 88 with his fastball this spring. “It was a challenging start for me against one of the county’s top teams. I threw my fast ball and curve and used my change-up as well. My command was on and I like to throw first pitch strikes.

My mechanics have been good, been staying in the flow. TJ Hose (former college pitcher at East Carolina who runs a pitching school in Penmsylvania) has helped me a lot.“

Williams is really confident about this year’s ball club and they showed why yesterday presenting him with a 7-run fourth inning after the Falcons plated a pair in their initial at-bat on a Brooks Harris triple and chased Broadneck ace righthander Sean Murphy in the big fourth.

The Falcons got two hits each from their three and four hitters shortstop Angel Santiago-Cruz and first baseman Seamus Patenaude and infielder Matt Fleisher. The Falcons had nine hits on the afternoon, only five knocks in that crucial fourth frame.

“This Sean’s (Murphy) third year as our ace and he’s going to be okay, ‘’ said Broadneck coach Matt Skrenchuk. “He needs to keep the ball down and he knows that. The first couple inning he was throwing the ball well. But Severna Park is a good ball club and they got some timely hitting today.“

First baseman Devin McGowan belted a two-run homer for the Bruins’ first two runs in the sixth inning sand a two-bagger in the last at-bat to cap the scoring.

“I expect us to be pretty good this season and we believe we are due to do some good things in the state tournament,” said Williams.

NO. 3 SEVERNA PARK 11, NO. 6 BROADNECK 3

Severna Park 200 702 0 - 11 9 2

Broadneck 000 002 1 - 3 6 2

Sean Williams, Dan Lynn (6), Angel Santiago-Cruz (7) and Cody Phillips; Sean Murphy, Jack Miteff (4), Kobe Owen (6) and Nick Cicale.

2B: Severna Park - Chuck Hartman and Seamus Patenaude; Broadneck - Devin McGowan.

3B: Severna Park - Brooks Harris

HR: Broadneck - McGowan