Power Outage: Vikings' Offense Shut Down in State Championship Loss

Averaging more than eight runs per game in four playoff contests entering Saturday afternoon’s 2A State Championship against North Caroline, Lansdowne’s offense was in as good of a groove as it’s been in all season, pumping out home runs and picking up key base hits.

However, Bulldogs starter Richie Blosser brought that hitting flow and power surge to a grinding halt.

The senior right-hander stifled the Vikings to the tune of just one hit—a third-inning single from Brad Childress—over his seven scoreless innings and allowed just four other runners (three walks and a hit batter) to reach for the game.

Also North Caroline’s leadoff batter, Blosser went 3-for-4 and scored three of his team’s runs en route to a 4-0 shutout win at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen.

“I think what it was is, we haven’t seen anyone throw quite like that yet,” said Lansdowne head coach Matt Kohel, referring to Blosser’s fastball velocity. “He was quick pitching us. When we kind of slowed him down a bit that’s when we got guys on.

“We just weren’t getting the key hits. They had eight hits, seven of them had blood on them. They weren’t hit hard, they just found holes. We just hit the ball right at everybody.”

North Caroline (17-6) wasted no time capturing a lead it would never relinquish. Blosser led off with a blooper over short, and after moving to second on a groundout, came around to score when Cory Biddle served a soft single that fell between left fielder Josh Shook and centerfielder Shane Montgomery.

After a walk and pop-up, Will Turley brought home Biddle on a sharp, two-out single past a diving Childress at shortstop.

Lansdowne starter Sam Warfield gave up one run apiece in the fifth and seventh innings, but battled well throughout, stranding six North Caroline runners for the game, while striking out four and walking just two, to keep his squad in the game.

“I’ll take four runs out of Sam any day,” said Kohel, whose squad is now 14-0 when it scores five or more runs, but winless (0-6) when it tallies four or less.

It was also Warfield who delivered what could have been a game-changing hit, had it fallen in, with two away in the bottom of the fourth. Still down just 2-0, after back-to-back walks by Mike Morris and J.T. Tucker, Warfield slashed a liner that appeared to be slicing away from the right fielder but stayed up just long enough to be snatched up for a shoestring grab.  

The Vikings (14-6) also had a prime scoring opportunity one inning earlier.

After retiring the first seven batters in order, Blosser gave up a one-out single to Childress that grazed the glove of a sprawled out Brice Manship at second and trickled into center field. Josh Shook followed with a walk, but after Melvin Shook grounded into a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners, Brian Kummerlowe’s high chopper was snared by the third baseman who fired a strike across the diamond to end the threat.  

In addition to the Vikings only tallying one hit, they managed to get just one runner to third base (Childress in the top of the third) and only two to second, for the game.

“Today was a day when we couldn’t catch a break,” Kummerlowe said after the game. “We’ve been riding this run in here and winning all these games leading into this. We just couldn’t catch a break today. It was a good game, but it’s a tough one to lose, especially to go out on.”

Permitting scoring chances in consecutive frames, Blosser buckled down in his final three innings of work. After hitting Childress to lead off the fifth, the senior retired nine Lansdowne hitters in order—which included striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh—to secure the win.

Despite falling behind early and facing a talented pitcher in Blosser, Kummerlowe—who called Blosser’s fastball the best Lansdowne’s seen all year—said he and his teammates never felt like they were out of the game.

“I felt a lot of us had confidence that we could come back,” the senior catcher said. “If you told us that we would only get one hit today and no runs, I’d say you’re crazy, because we’ve been hitting good. It was just one of those days. It’s baseball, man.”

BOX SCORE

North Caroline 4, Lansdowne 0

NC 200 010 1----4 8 0

L    000 000 0----0 1 2

Pitching                               IP            R             H             BB           K

NC

Blosser (W)                         7              0              1              3              7

L

Warfield (L)                        7              4              8              2              4

Batting

RBI: NC-Biddle 2, Turley, Manship.

2B: NC-Blosser.

SB: NC-Blosser, Schmidt.