The year of the pitcher; North Harford’s success on the mound

The North Harford Varsity Baseball team saw a beautiful 13-5 record where they started the season with a wild 57-12 earned runs to runs given up, up until their first loss of the season.

     The Hawks broke their streak of shutouts in the third and fourth games of the season allowing five and six runs in back to back games against Aberdeen and Rising Sun respectively, winning both showcases.

     The team took their first loss of the season to Patterson Mill in the seventh game of their season where they would lose by only one run as they came up short two to three. After their loss against the Huskies, the Hawks would win their next four games each by five or more runs while allowing only nine combined runs in the four game span. This would equate to a +23 run differential as NH continued their dominant streak. 

     The dominance in NH’s pitching showed throughout the season as they allowed double digit runs only once this season, in their final game against Fallston, while reaching double digits offensively on six separate occasions against Joppatowne, Edgewood, Bel Air, Rising Sun, Perryville and Harford Tech.

     Senior pitcher Mitchell Wittcamp recorded a team-high 53 strikeouts on 25 batters walked while achieving a five win to two losses record. Wittcamp would serve as the primary pitcher for the team as he pitched a total of 34 innings this season.

     At 28 innings pitched, senior Jeremy Weber recorded the teams second highest innings pitched while amassing 29 strikeouts on 13 batters walked, this would lead him to a two win to two losses record.

     Junior Tim Steele went undefeated on the year at three wins to zero losses and this was a result of sixteen innings pitched with a whopping 21 strikeouts on 17 batters walked. Steele would be the only pitcher that would gain the undefeated title on the Hawks this year. Junior Ryan Martinelli served as a utility pitcher as he let up zero batters to walks on six strikeouts during his four innings on the mound, Martinelli was not given a record due to his lack of innings pitched.

      Senior Keegan Bowling pitched 11 innings while acquiring an even ten strikeouts and ten batters walked throughout the course of the season. Senior Gavin Barker achieved 18 strikeouts on 17 batters walked on 12 innings, achieving this during his 12 innings on the mound.

     The pitching staff for NH helped attest to their teams success by holding their opponents to under eight runs in nearly every game, allowing eight or more in only three games, NH would ultimately lose all three showcases in which their pitchers allowed eight or more runs. These games were against Patterson Mill with a score of 1-8, C. Milton Wright with a score of 6-8, and Fallston with a score of 2-12.