Young’s Homer Powers Chesapeake Over Severna Park, 6-3

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Dylan Young said he’d never quite gotten hold of a pitch the way he did on Tuesday, when he stepped to the plate against Severna Park pitcher Evan Lewis with two runners on base and his Cougars tied 2-2 with the Falcons in the bottom of the fourth inning.

“It was 0-0 and I just got a good first-pitch fastball to hit,” said Young. “I was just staying with my approach of going to right-center. I got my hips through it and took it out of here.”

Lewis throws as hard as anyone in the county and has been one of Anne Arundel’s best pitchers this season, but Young’s three-run home run—a towering blast to deep left field that lifted the Cougars to a 5-2 lead—was the key play in Chesapeake’s 6-3 win at The Swamp on Tuesday.

Colby Buckheit settled down after allowing a two-run home run to Severna Park’s Jordan Hallet in the second inning, ultimately earning the win in the full 7 innings. Buckheit allowed just two earned runs and struck out four batters on just 85 pitches.

He received offensive support in the form of eight base hits from the Cougars, as Michael Mulford, Brandon Goodman and Colton Spangler all had two base hits for Chesapeake.

James Hawkins also had a base hit, and Tyler Shadle had an RBI. Reed Matkins effectively worked an at-bat and ultimately took a hit-by-pitch to get on base for Young’s home run, and Mulford scored twice.

Brendan Simonds singled, doubled and scored twice for the Falcons, while Hallet added a single to his day that included the homer and two RBIs. Caleb Robinson, Jackson Merrill, Camden Handwerger, Parker Jones, Mark Sasse and Corey Bodnar all had hits for the Falcons.

Though the Cougars made two errors, Buckheit got defensive playmaking to close out the win, as Chesapeake turned a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

“[Against Hallet], I got ahead of him and then left the curveball a little too far over, and it got up in the wind and drifted out of here,” said Buckheit. “After that I just tried to get ahead of the hitters and get them behind and get them off with curve balls and get them swinging at them.”

Coming off losses to South River and Annapolis last week, Chesapeake got up for Falcons, who always make for a good opponent in a rivalry that is hard-fought every season. The Cougars improved to 8-3 and avoided dropping three straight.

“It’s definitely a big win,” said Young. “We needed it after our last two. It had been a struggle, and attitudes were down. Today is going to be a big boost.”

Chesapeake is right back at it on Wednesday, hosting Broadneck. Spangler said the Cougars need to keep mentally on an even keel.

“I think for our confidence level it still helps, but [Wednesday] we still have to keep our heads straight and not get too bloated on this big win,” he said.

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