With a victory in its final regular-season game sometime this week, the McLean Highlanders will finish first in the Liberty District regular-season baseball standings and earn the top seed for the upcoming league tournament.
The high-school team (13-6 overall) is in first place with a 9-2 record thanks to a 4-3 victory over the visiting Herndon Hornets in recent days. Herndon also has just two district losses, but each were against McLean, so the Highlanders have the tiebreaking edge.
In the 4-3 win, McLean senior Griffin Stieg led the way with his pitching and his hitting. The right-hander threw a 114-pitch complete game with eight strikeouts. He allowed just three hits and gave up two earned runs. Stieg (7-1 record) walked two.
“It was a heck of a game,” McLean coach John Dowling said. “Griff didn’t have his usual command, but really competed. Give a lot of credit to Herndon, too. They really battle.”
With the bat, the Virginia Tech-bound Stieg homered and doubled. His homer proved the game-winning run, a solo blast to center in the fifth inning. Chris Morabito had two hits and an RBI with three steals for McLean, Gavin Bartlett had one hit and one RBI, and Yechan Kim had the team’s other hit.
The Highlanders’ final game is scheduled against Washington-Liberty, a team they defeated 13-3 in the first meeting between the squads.
If McLean earns the top seed, it will receive a first-round district-tournament bye and an automatic berth into the 6D North Region tournament.
The district tournament could begin sometime this week, weather permitting.
* The Flint Hill Huskies defeated St. Andrews, 10-3, in recent Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference baseball play and stands 16-6 overall and 9-2 in league play.
Jason Mendler doubled and had three hits and two RBI to lead the hitting, along with J.T. Landwehr (double, three RB), Steve Milman and Alex Freel, all with two hits each.
In a non-league loss to St. John’s, Sandro Dussek and Jackson Emery had two hits each for Flint Hill, which was ranked No. 8 last week in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Division I private-school state poll.
* The Potomac School Panthers topped Sidwell Friends, 10-4, in a recent Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference baseball game and downed St. Andrews, 7-1, in another contest.
David Boehm, Owen Peterson and Marcus Burrell all had two hits against Sidwell. Paul Witkop threw an 85-pitch, no-walk complete game to get the victory on the mound. He scattered eight hits.
Against St. Andrews, Drew Turner pitched five innings of no-hit ball with seven Ks to get the victory. Potomac School allowed just one hit.
With the bat, Peterson doubled and had two hits and a sacrifice fly, with four RBI.
* The Langley Saxons (5-14, 2-9) beat the Marshall Statesmen (6-1, 4-6) in a recent Liberty District baseball game. Hank Lippman pitched five innings with six strikeouts to get the win. He allowed an earned run and three hits.
Parker Whelan had three hits, including two doubles, and four RBI to lead the Langley batters. Luke Buroker had two hits and an RBI and Matthew Kim homered. Cameron Tallent and Owen Lochhead each had a hit and one RBI. Thomas Doody doubled and Andrew Kang added a sacrifice fly. Langley had 11 hits. Jack Emory had two hits for Marshall.
Langley lost to Yorktown, 10-1, in another district game as Kim and Scott Coker each had two hits. The Saxons made five errors and had five hits.
In Marshall’s earlier 8-6 loss to Washington-Liberty, Aiden Han had three hits and two stolen bases and Brody Chichester and Emory added two hits each. Nick Robinson had a hit and three RBI.