Baseball: Huskies End Season in Semifinal Loss

After four straight Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference titles, the Flint Hill baseball team lost to Sidwell Friends in the tournament semifinals with a 6-5 final score.

"I see every year as a new year, so I wasn't worried about keeping the streak," Coach Tom Verbanic said. "The kids fought until the end and that's what matters. It's a great group of kids, we just came up a little short."

The Quakers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and stayed ahead for two innings before the Huskies rallied in the third.

Bruce Briglia started the rally after drawing a walk with one out, then pinch runner Jordan Davis stole second base with Felix van der Vaart in the batter's box. Van der Vaart hit a double to left field to put runners on second and third, and Nick Bazzarone knocked in the first Huskies run with a single to left field. drew a walk to load the bases with one out.

The Quakers committed an error on a grounder from Harrison Gray, allowing two runners to score to give the Huskies the lead. Josh Crummer followed with a walk to load the bases.

With two outs, Daniel Giguere hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score the Huskies' fourth run of the inning.

The Huskies added their fifth run in the fourth inning on a hard hit groundball down the third base line from Belt.

But the Quakers made a comeback in the sixth inning to tie the game, then added the winning run in the seventh on a suicide squeeze. 

Doyle pitched a complete game for the Huskies, throwing six strikeouts and 94 pitches. 

"He was throwing very economically throughout the game. And in the sixth when they tied it up, he really wasn't throwing bad. We made some errors and did some bad things," Verbanic said. "Yesterday we played in the state tournament and used three pitchers, so we were going to go seven with him and keep his pitch count down."

The loss ends the Huskies 2012 season short of the MAC title they've become so accustomed to, but Verbanic is already optimistic for next season. 

"I'm wouldn't mind starting another streak next year," Verbanic said. "I'm always optimistic. I think we have a great young group and I think we're going to do great things."