Huntingtown rallies to beat Northern, remain undefeated and top ranked

Owings, MD – The Huntingtown Hurricanes baseball team traveled to rival Northern Wednesday, April 3 where a seventh inning rally allowed the undefeated ‘Canes to prevail, 4-2.

Northern began the game strong behind the pitching of senior and St. John’s University-committed Marcus Lee Sang, who struck out two batters and forced a grounder to third for the final out. The Patriots then turned around and scored during their first at bat, carrying that momentum through five innings.

Huntingtown coach Guy Smith complimented Lee Sang’s pitching, stating, “It was a great game. Two highly ranked teams, five or six miles away, a lot of D1 arms out here. Lee Sang threw a hell of a game but we were able to string some hits together and get out of here with a win.”

“Marcus was great on the mound. Unfortunately he got into a couple of deep counts, raising his total pitch count, so we had to pull him out before we wanted to,” said Northern Coach Bobby Gibbons after the game. Though he didn’t allow many hits, Lee Sang struggled with keeping balls in the strike zone at times, walking six batters and throwing an errant pitch that sent Cy Harwood home for the Hurricanes at the top of the fifth inning, scoring the team’s first run.

Lee Sang suppressed what has been a prolific offense for the Hurricanes, scoring double digits in several games this season. Great pitching combined with solid fielding limited Huntingtown to only two base hits until the final inning where the Hurricanes strung together five hits and three RBI’s.

Pitching on the opposite mound was senior and Towson-committed Ryan Terrents, who gave up two runs early–the aforementioned run in the bottom of the first and a second run in the third inning. Terrents settled in after that, pitching a complete game and giving up only two more base hits. The senior was anticipating the rivalry game, focused on winning what he considers “one of the biggest things in Huntingtown Baseball.” The Huntingtown defense really shined in the final three innings, causing Northern to go three-up-and-three-down in each. “I like how we all stick together and never give up. I like that we have a chemistry similar to my freshman year when we won the state championship. That’s what I’m most proud of,” said Terrents of his team.

The win stretched Huntingtown’s all-time lead in the rivalry to nine (15-6). Additionally, the Hurricanes played Chopticon on Friday, beating the Braves 10-7 and preserving their perfect season.

Northern’s coach, Gibbons, suggested that the loss came due to the team’s inability to produce at the plate, stating that the team will focus on improving their hitting in the coming practices. “We’ll get to see them again, so we’ll keep working and hope to have a better outcome next time.” The two meet again on April 29, this time at Huntingtown.

Huntingtown currently sits at number four in the state, according to MaxPreps rankings, and number five in the DC-Metro area according to the Washington Post.