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Patapsco Loses in 3A State Title Game
Patriots committ six errors in 8-2 loss
- Article by Ben Boehl -
For a second straight season, a local high school advanced to the baseball state title game and got to play for the state championship. Last year, Eastern Tech and their fans made a trip up to Aberdeen and watched their team win the 2A State Title with a 3-2 at Ripken Stadium.

Patriot pitcher Ronny Bolyard allowed only one earned run, but his defense committed four errors.
This year it was Patapsco’s turn as the team made the trip up to Aberdeen to play for the 3A MPSSAA State Title last Saturday night. Unfortunately for the Patriots and their fans, the team came up short in an 8-2 loss to La Plata High School, out of Charles County in Southern Maryland.
The Patriots defense struggled all night long as they committed six errors in the loss. Patapsco starting pitcher Ronny Bolyard pitched four innings, allowed only one earned run and three hits, but was credited for four runs.
La Plata scored the first run in the second inning after a walk and then a double. The Patapsco defense had a chance to escape only allowing one run, but couldn’t record the final out. With two outs, a La Plata batter hit a pop up behind the plate, but a Patapsco player misplayed the ball. That batter got another chance and reached base after a throwing error by a Patriot infielder, which allowed the second run to score.
In the fourth inning, Bolyard’s defense let him down again after a La Plata batter reached base after another throwing error by an infielder. Then La Plata’s Seth Donnelly hit an out-of-the-park homerun to extend the lead to 4-0.
La Plata had a 5-2 led going into the seventh and added three more runs, which came from two more Patriot throwing errors.
On offense, Patapsco had struggled all evening against La Plata pitcher Michael Boyden. He had 14 strikeouts and the Patriots didn’t get a hit off Boyden until Vinny Tiburzi’s base hit in the fourth inning.
In the fifth inning, the Patriots had runners on first and second after a Jordan Goocharan hit and Eric Ryan walk, but couldn’t score. They finally got runners home in the bottom of the sixth when Rob Rychwalski scored after another Tiburzi’s hit and Rob Wilson’s hit drove home Andrew Huber to cut the La Plata led to 5-2, but Boyden struck out the next two Patriots to end the inning. In the bottom of the seventh Ryan and Paul Goins reached base with one out, but again Boyden struck out the final two Patapsco batters to end the inning and this time the game.
Patapsco Advances to Finals, Sparrows Point defeated in Semifinals
The Patriots are one win away from their first state championship as they defeat Centennial 8-6 on Tuesday. They will play this Saturday night at 7 p.m. against La Plata in the MPSSAA 3A Title Game at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen.
Sparrows Point season ended in Frederick on Wednesday night in the 1A State Semifinals. The Pointers lost to Saint Michaels 9-2.
Patapsco Comes Back From 7-0 Deficit to Win 2A Regional Title
- by Ben Boehl-

The Patriots celebrate as they win the 2A North Title.
The Patapsco Patriots baseball team earned their 3A North Regional Title by coming back from a 7-0 deficit to defeat Catonsville 9-8 in 11 innings.
The Patriots had won 13 in a row, including the playoffs, going into their 3A North Regional Final Game against Catonsville. It looked as if the Patriots’ dream season was coming to end as Catonsville jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second inning. Catonsville sent 11 batters to the plate and put up five runs, three walks and seven runs against  Patriot starting pitcher Ronny Bolyard. Patapsco coach Tony Maggard said he got to see his team face adversity with a seven run deficit.
“I told them to relax. We hadn't faced that type gut check all year long. When someone gives you a gut check, you have to be able to react. You have to be able to take one on the chin,” Maggard said.
Patapsco slowly got back into the game. They started their comeback in the bottom of the second inning with three runs. Rob Wilson led off with a hit, Bolyard walked and Jordan “Gooch” Goocharan drove in Wilson with a hit. Bolyard and Goocharan both scored on a Brent Ellick base hit.
The Patriots added two more in the third after Wilson hit a triple and scored on a Bolyard double. Goocharan added another RBI when he doubled to drive in pitch runner Manny Prassinas.
Catonsville added another run to grab an 8-5 lead, but Wilson started another rally with a walk and scored his third run of the game after a Jon Richardson hit. Richardson and Goocharan scored two more runs to cut the lead to 8-7 after five innings.
After a tough second inning, Bolyard calmed down and allow one run for the rest of the game. He had five strikeouts, including a key strikeout in the top of the sixth as Catonsville had the bases loaded. Maggard decided to stay with his senior pitcher even though he struggled early in the game.
“After the second inning, he got his pitches down. He was able to hit his spots and the location was there.”
 That kept it a one-run game and the Patriots finally caught Catonsville in the seventh. Goocharan had a  base hit, stole second and scored on a two-out base hit from Paul Goins. The combination of  Goocharan and Goins worked again for Patapsco in the bottom of the 11th as Goocharan led off with a triple and Goins brought him home by hitting a soft ground ball to third for the win.
“This team has a lot of confidence and has shown a lot of heart all season,” Goins said.
The Patriots were scheduled to play Centennial next.
Other scores
Sparrows Point 18 Digital Harbor 5
Even though the Pointers had a losing record, they silenced many critics (including this one) by going on the road and beating the Baltimore City Champions Digital Harbor to win the 1A North Region.  They were scheduled to play St. Micheals next.
Loch Raven 7 Eastern Tech 3
The Mavericks bid for a second straight title came to an end when they lost at home to the third seed Loch Raven 7-3 last week in the 3A North Regional Semifinals
CM Wright 6 Kenwood 2
The Bluebirds faced a similar exit in their 4A North Region where they lost at home as a second seed to the third seed CM Wright 6-2