Final: St. John the Baptist 5, St. Dominic 3
WP: Will LynchSt. John the Baptist is the 2018 CHSAA Champions ! pic.twitter.com/xbXvtj95fl
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 28, 2018
It’s hard to have a more drastic turn of events from the fifth inning on; which began as a commanding 3-0 lead for St. Dominic with Johnny Flannigan cruising, to a go-ahead, two-run triple by Matt Lavin, immediately followed by an RBI double–that appeared to be shot out of a cannon–by Logan O’Hoppe.
St. John the Baptist reliever, Will Lynch, who came on with a runner on third in the third inning wound up going the distance and completely mystifying the Bayhawks’ batters and recording the victory as the Cougars won, 5-3, to capture their first CHSAA title since 2014.
“We weren’t worried when we went down 3-0,” said Lavin. “We’ve been confident the whole year, but in that last at bat I went down 0-2 and I was a little nervous, but I got the fastball inside and turn on it, hit it off the wall for a triple to take the lead,” he added.
Catcher Logan O’Hoppe had a more sentimental reflection on the game. As the emotional leader of the team, and the heart & soul of the Cougars from behind the plate, you can see how much this moment meant for the ECU-commit.
“I can’t even describe this feeling right now,” he said moments following the game. “We worked so hard for this. We stressed the whole playoffs that we were more prepared than anyone and we felt so good going into this game. For these seniors, this is four years in the making, and I’ve never felt better about something. All these guys are going to enjoy it. It’s surreal right now. I just love everyone of these guys,” he added.
O’Hoppe will likely get selected in the MLB Draft next week and had as big of an impact that a player can possibly have at the high school level. He won the Triple Crown offensively, batting .511 during the regular season with four HR. Recently, teams have simply decided it wasn’t worth the headache of pitching to him so he’s been intentionally walked an inordinate amount of times. Behind the plate, he was an absolute game-changer, the human equivalent to a red-light for base stealers. He allowed only three stolen bases all year, according to Head Coach Casey McKay, all of them the product of runner’s not being held on. He also was the emotional leader of the team.
A big moment in this game was after the O’Hoppe caught a foul pop behind home plate that he had to sprint to the fence to catch–not a routine play by any standards. After he made the play, he let out a menacing look to the field and at that moment I thought to myself this kid is not going to let his team lose.
Problem was, St. Dominic RHP Johnny Flannigan was dynamic for the first four innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four. I even began to prepare where I would get lunch since it was inevitable there would be a do-or-die game 2. That was until the Cougars bats woke up.
It all started in the fifth inning when freshman A.J. Joya hit an infield 1b to shortstop. Seemed harmless enough, especially when the next batter struck out and O’Hoppe chopped a ground ball to third. The throw, however, was errant and it allowed the dangerous Will Shaw to come to the plate. The Quinnipiac-commit smoked a two-run double to the deepest part of the park in right-center field. It scored both runners and changed the complexion of the game. No longer were the bats dormant. They had life.
Reliever Will Lynch, who came on in the third inning, was straight up nasty. His herky-jerky delivery was tying the opposition in knots and he was having great success with his breaking ball and seemed to use it very frequently. He fired a scoreless fifth inning, working around a single to the talented freshman Sean Lane in the process. This let his bats get to work again.
In the sixth, a leadoff HBP and a single by Joya put the go-ahead run on first. After a strikeout, that brought up No. 9 batter Matt Lavin. After falling behind 0-2 on two fastballs, he launched one to the base of the wall in right field, allowing both runners to score as he slid headfirst into third. Before the fans could even sit down, O’Hoppe ripped one to the left-center field alley to score Lavin and open up a 5-3 lead as chants of E-C-U broke out in the bleachers. The following batter was retired, but the damage was done.
Lynch came back out for the seventh, firing a 1-2-3 inning and delivering the Cougars the long-awaited championship.
It was a remarkable season for the Cougars, they entered the season as the favorites and answered the bell every step of the way.
