McLean varsity baseball faced the Langley Saxons on a rainy Tuesday evening, looking to advance to the Liberty District championship for the third time in many years. McLean’s home game loss to the Saxons earlier in the year was the first such loss in a long time, and the visitors entered the game with the hopes of spoiling McLean’s party for the second time.
At the beginning of the game, it looked as though they were in for a good night. Two runs in the first two innings off of star senior pitcher Aidan Carey had McLean floored, their spirits damper than the field they were playing on. It didn’t last long, though—the heart of McLean’s order came through in the second inning, with singles from senior Yuta Shimo and junior Ethan Ball putting two runs on the board, and a double from junior Gabriel Pegues knocking in a run before Pegues eventually scored himself. McLean had survived an early flurry from their rivals, heading into the middle of the game with a 4-2 lead.
“We never panicked when we were down, and we trusted our bats to get us back in the game,” Shimo said.
The pitchers settled in after that point, with Carey dealing as expected and his counterpart, junior Vinnie Rana, shutting down a potent Highlander offense. It wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning that another runner would cross the plate—two, to be exact, on a disastrous play stemming from a simple error. An overthrow from Carey to first base allowed one runner to score, and a dropped throw on the third base line on the very same play tied the game up. Seemingly shellshocked, the next at-bat was an RBI single, and out of nowhere the Saxons took the lead, 5-4.
Although the sudden change of pace took some of the Highlanders aback, the morale of the team as a whole was not weakened.
“We fought the whole game and just found a way to achieve our goal,” Pegues said. “We kept our confidence high and never doubted ourselves as a team.”
The two offenses were at an impasse from that point on. Senior Jack Nance pitched in relief of Carey, posting a strong shutout performance, and after a single from Shimo in the bottom of the seventh inning, Rana was pulled in favor of Virginia Military Institute commit Gary Ahrens. Knowing that it was their last chance to keep themselves in title contention, the Highlanders turned the energy up to 11.
“It was electric; the boys came alive,” junior designated hitter Aydin Prell said.
Shimo and Pegues took residence on first and second base after the latter batter was walked, and Langley head coach Jared Sronce elected to intentionally walk cleanup hitter Ryan Soong, loading the bases for junior first baseman Brennan Core. Trailing by a single run, Core came through. A line drive to left field scored Shimo, leaving the bases loaded in a tie game for senior left fielder Jamie Coates, and the stadium went silent with anticipation as Ahrens readied for the at-bat.
The first pitch came in. Ball.
The second. Ball.
Coates rips at a fastball, misses. 2-1 count.
Third pitch. Ball.
The fourth pitch was fired well high of the zone, and Pegues trotted home to score the winning run. Coates was mobbed by his teammates as he took his rightfully earned first base in celebratory fashion. The Highlanders had come from behind twice in the same game, taking home a hard-earned win and moving once more onto the district finals. While the win was thrilling, the players recognized the importance of quickly refocusing on the overall goal. They will take on the Yorktown Patriots in an away game on Friday, May 17.
“It feels awesome knowing that we’ve competed so hard and worked for everything that has come our way,” Pegues said. “I’m excited to compete for a district title and see all our work pay off.”