Baseball: Patriots overcome recent struggles with two big wins (copy) ; Old Mill works out of slump for title

Two wins in one afternoon helped the Old Mill baseball team put aside its struggles over the last 10 days.

Keith Parks give up one run over five innings, and the Patriots defense survived two situations with bases loaded and no outs to outlast Broadneck, 6-4, and claim the Lawrence E. Knight tournament championship on Saturday.

"It was nice to see some guys buckle down a little bit," Old Mill coach Jeff Martin said. "We made some plays in the field and the pitchers made some great pitches."

Old Mill (7-7) opened the scoring in the first inning when David Marrocco drove in Tayvon Smith, who led the inning off with a double. Nate Hammond and Dj Biscoe also drove in runs to give the Patriots a 3-0 lead.

Marrocco scored on Kevin Walter's single in the third to increase the lead to 4-0.

"We had some really good at bats today, which was good to see," Martin said.

Broadneck's (8-6) Brian Parreira led of the fourth inning with a walk, and pinch runner Patrick Wicker scored on Brandon Vermillion's double to cut the lead to 4-1. The Bruins then loaded the bases with nobody out, but failed to put another run on the board.

Parks induced a ground ball that forced Ryan Dunleavy out at the plate, Fred Fillah struck out and Connor Alwan grounded to second to end the rally.

"We weren't able to get anybody across, and that hurts you," Broadneck coach Jeff Herrick said. "That's what you want to try to be able to do, but we didn't do it."

The Patriots' Tyler Westin led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and later came around to score on a wild pitch to put Old Mill ahead 5-1.

Broadneck bounced back in the fifth inning, loading the bases with no outs for the second time. The Bruins pushed three runs across, with Fillah driving in Will O'Neill and Vermillion and Dickson scoring on wild pitches, to cut the lead to 5-4.

"It was good to see that we bounced back a little bit," Herrick said. "Any time you put yourself down early, you have to struggle back, and that's tough to do."

Old Mill added an insurance run in the sixth, when junior varsity callup Patrick Kiernan drove in Ben Donaldson with a double.

Smith closed the door on the Bruins in the seventh, getting three straight outs, including a strikeout.

The Patriots defeated North Harford 13-7 earlier in the day, allowing them to clinch Saturday's tournament championship with the win over Broadneck.

"It's huge," Martin said. "We've been down a little bit, we got some guys banged up. To come out today and get two wins against two pretty good teams, just huge wins for us."

Broadneck dropped a 5-1 decision to North Harford in its first game of the tournament and lost three out of four games over the last week.

"We have to keep practicing hard. You can't get yourself down on tough games that you lose," Herrick said. "We just have to keep doing what we're doing and practice hard, and maybe things will fall our way."

The Patriots went into Saturday's tournament having lost three of their last four games. Martin said they had been getting good pitching, but struggled hitting and defensively.

"It's nice to get a win," he said. "It was nice to see these guys come alive a little bit"

Broadneck (8-6) 000 103 0 -- 4 6 2

Old Mill (7-7) 301 101 x -- 6 6 3

WP: Parks. LP: Dold. 2B: BN -- Vermillion, O'Neill; OM -- Smith, Westin, Kiernan. RBI: BN -- Vermillion, Fillah; OM -- Marrocco, Hammond, Biscoe, Walter, Kiernan.

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