Sports
Maplewood Richmond Heights Falls 2-0 to Brentwood
MRH High School senior ace pitcher Kevin Sapp kept the team in the game.
After a 14-0 drubbing by three days ago, definitely wanted to play a better game at Deer Creek Park on Tuesday against the Eagles.
They did show improvement, but not quite enough. MRH senior ace pitcher Kevin Sapp faced Brentwood junior Kevin Smith, and while each turned in a great performance, Smith came out on top. The Eagles shut out the Blue Devils again, this time 2-0. It was Smith's third straight shutout.
Sapp kept MRH in the game, but the Blue Devils couldn't capitalize with men on base.
"Kevin gave us a very strong performance on the mound, and that's something that we have to take advange of," MRH coach Jonathan Webb said. "We didn't really do that, and we had our opportunities. We had second and third, and nobody out."
MRH stranded eight baserunners, thanks to Smith's solid performance. Ten Blue Devils went down either swinging or watching a strike go by.
"He was nails," Brentwood coach Mike Imergoot said. "Rarely got behind hitters. Kept the ball down. Had a really good off-speed pitch today.
"(Smith) is just really bearing down when it's tough," Imergoot said. "He had difficulty with adversity last year. He's caved in a little bit. Now he's a junior, and he's attacking it. It shows. He's a bulldog."
Brentwood got its two runs in the second inning. Senior Ryan Marshall, who went 3-for-3, started the Eagles’ rally with a single to left field. He then scored on junior Tyler Jones’ double. Jones also eventually scored.
MRH loaded the bases with two outs in the third but couldn't score. A double steal in the fifth inning put senior Charles BoClair and junior Kayshon Hagens on second and third with one out, but they were left stranded, too. Brentwood made its second-inning, two-run lead stand.
"When you have good defense and pitching, you're always going to be in a ball game," Imergoot said.
Webb likes the progress his team has made. "You look at where we were the last time we played these guys three days ago, and it was a much more crisp ball game, and we have to go that one step further now.
“We're not quite there, we're right on the cusp. This is where we can't back off. We've got to push it that one step further. We're in the position to succeed if we put the work into it."
"I knew it would be a low scoring game," Imergoot said. "We didn't capitalize on a couple of opportunities that could have opened it up, but that's a tribute to (Sapp) ... cause he doesn't want baserunners. He just bore down and knocked us out."
Imergoot said his guys will peak at districts. The MRH team would love nothing better than to meet them on that field again.
"Hopefully, we're going to get them in districts," Sapp said. "Believe that."
MRH plays McCluer-South Berkeley (2-0, 5-5) at home at Deer Creek Park on Monday. Brentwood plays at Principia (1-5, 3-8) on Wednesday.