Bruin Baseball Continues Hot Start

Broadneck’s baseball team is putting together quite the season, with about everything they could possibly hope for: lots of wins and a couple of hard, valuable lessons.

Heading into the last week of the regular season, the Bruins sit with a record of 14-2 and a healthy dose of perspective.

In the last three weeks, Broadneck has played 10 games, winning nine. They topped Crofton 8-0 on April 8, Arundel 14-0 on April 9, Northeast 4-3 on April 11, Old Mill 3-0 on April 12, Annapolis 11-0 on April 17, South River 3-0 on April 19, Southern 10-1 on April 22, Meade 14-0 on April 24, and North County 6-2 on April 26.

In that stretch came three complete-game shutouts, two from Noah Forman and another from Kobe Owen, as well as a combined five-inning no-hitter from Owen, Devin McGowan and Cooper Mengel. At the plate, there were homers from Calvin Cook (twice), Ethan Hopkins and Michael Swick. There was also the Bruins’ third extra-inning win, made possible when Broadneck punished a Northeast baserunning error in the bottom of the seventh inning and Forman scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Their only loss was a tough one, though, as an otherwise perfect run through April was interrupted by a 10-2 setback at Severna Park on April 15. In that game, the Bruins scored first on a Calvin Cook solo homer, but they gave up three homers in the first two innings and couldn’t recover.

“It felt great in the first inning to score first, which gives a lot of confidence to your team. But we didn’t want their best player to beat us, and he beat us twice. That was the difference in the game,” said Broadneck coach Matt Skrenchuk. “Outside of that, I’m proud of how we competed, and to get a great pitcher out of the game in the fifth inning, I thought our guys did a nice job with the approach there.”

Still, the Bruins seem poised to potentially defend their county championship, sitting with just one loss in county play and three county games left to go: rematches against Arundel and Chesapeake this week, followed by a game at Glen Burnie on May 3.

Broadneck eased past both Arundel and Chesapeake earlier this season, and they’ll be wary of feeling too good about themselves as another county championship game berth looms.

“Baseball’s a game that’s going to humble you, and if you haven’t been humbled recently, it’s going to humble you at some point. It’s one game, and they all count exactly the same,” Skrenchuk said. “We hope that we have an opportunity to play in the county championship game again this season. Whoever we would play, we’d look forward to that opportunity (if it comes).”