Hayfield Survives Yorktown Comeback to Clinch National District Title

Seconds before Hayfield head coach Jimmy Linza was to begin to speak with his team on winning the National District championship, starting pitcher Justin Drechsler doused the coach with a Gatorade shower.

Linza probably needed a soaking after he had to sweat through watching his team nearly blow a 16-0 lead in the third inning to prevail 17-16 against a passionate Yorktown rally on Monday.

“I’ve coached a lot of games and my memory’s not great, but this is the first time we’ve ever had a 16-run lead on someone and still in the back of my mind I knew they weren’t done,” Linza said. “Thankfully for us we got it done in the allotted amount of outs they made us play.”

The win over the Patriots marked only the second time in the 42-year history of Hayfield (20-3, 14-2 National) to win a district championship in baseball. It also marked an end to Yorktown’s (17-6, 14-3) dominance in the district after they had won four straight titles.

Hayfield’s bats popped before the popcorn in the concession stands were even available. The Hawks started the game without a hitch offensively and their bats were explosive in the first three innings, leading 16-0. Senior Josh Eldridge went 5-for-5 and had two home runs in what looked to be an easy win for Hayfield.  Junior Ben Harris and senior Brad Johnson each had a home run and drove in four and three early runs respectively.

“We’ve managed to win here three times in two years,” Linza said. The bus rides [to Arlington] have always been a killer and those guys were ready to step on the gas right away,”

Justin Drechsler got the start on the mound and had three strikeouts, but left after Yorktown’s bats started to come alive in the fourth and fifth innings to get the score within 16-10.

At the time, little did Hayfield know that Cameron Landmark’s deep home run in the top of the sixth inning would later provide the winning margin when it put the Hawks up 17-10.

By the final inning, the Hawks and their fans were biting their nails even though they were leading, 17-12.

With the district title hanging in the balance, Yorktown had no quit in them and quickly got on Hayfield relief pitcher Michael Askew. The Patriots’ Ryan Dowdell hit a deep home run to right center field to start the inning and then Yorktown’s C.J. Herold blasted a 3-run shot to center field to bring the Patriots to within one run.

With the game up for grabs and Yorktown having momentum, Hayfield brought in their ace pitcher in senior Cory Spera. Spera, who pitched a complete game 11-strikeout performance in the district semifinals against Washington and Lee on Saturday, had to come in knowing he only needed two outs for his team.

Spera induced Yorktown hitters into two quick ground-outs to give the Hawks the championship.

“They had the momentum going since the third inning,” Spera said. “I just wanted to get in there and shut the door as soon as possible. I’ve been a part of some pretty cool comebacks before, but it is one thing to be up by 16-0. Give them credit for the way they came back.”

With the victory, Hayfield will host Robinson on Friday. Hawks’ coach Jimmy Linza has some history with the Rams after he previously coached at Robinson in 2008. First pitch is at 7 p.m.

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