Siano pitches, hits Havre de Grace to win over Aberdeen in Cal Ripkien Sr. 'Fungo' baseball game

Apr. 17—The second annual Cal Ripken Sr. Battle for the Fungo baseball game highlighted Harford County high school baseball action Friday and the game between host Aberdeen and Havre de Grace couldn't have been more interesting and entertaining.

A pitchers' duel between seniors Frank Siano of Havre de Grace and Isaiah Coxon of Aberdeen resulted in a 1-0, no-hit win for Siano and the Warriors. The Warriors now hold possession of the relic, an old fungo bat used and previously owned by late Orioles coach and manager Cal Ripken Sr.

Also winning Friday were North Harford, Patterson Mill and Harford Tech.

In Aberdeen, both hard-throwing pitchers were on their game but Siano was just a notch better in this Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference game.

Siano threw six and two-third innings of no-hit baseball and had to come off the mound after reaching the maximum 105 pitch count. Freshman Taylor Blevins came on to strike out the final batter.

"Just come in here, pump strikes. Some of their guys were good at reading the fastball, you know. I got to read the batter as well, mix in the off-speed there," Siano said. "Most of all, pump strikes and let my defense play behind me."

Siano (13 strikeouts, seven walks) and Coxon (11 strikeouts, two hits, two walks) both threw three scoreless innings before Havre de Grace (2-2) scored the game's only run in the fourth.

And it was Siano that produced it.

Siano ripped a one-out, first-pitch fastball from Coxon to the fence in left-center field that went as a stand-up triple.

Ryan Hopps came on to courtesy run for Siano with Connor Howes at the plate. Howes squared to bunt on a safety squeeze, but Coxon's pitch was low and outside. The pitch glanced off freshman catcher Ryan Brinegar's mitt and to the backstop.

Hopps got a good read and alertly raced home with the big run.

"Everybody knows that first pitch fastball, that's the best pitch you're going to get," Siano said of his at-bat. "You always have the highest batting average first pitch coming at you. You got to sit, wait, watch it and then do a little poking and it turns into a triple."

With the run across, Howes singled to center for the other Warriors hit, but Coxon was able to escape any further trouble.

Aberdeen (0-4) had at least one base runner in every inning but two, but they could not produce a run.

The best chance may have come in the fifth when freshman KJ Miller drew a leadoff walk. Miller, though, was thrown out trying to steal second base by Warriors junior catcher Keegan Gruzs. Siano then struck out the next two batters.

Siano says he was on vacation the last time this game was played, the inaugural game in 2019 and won by Aberdeen.

"I was on vacation unfortunately, but now I'm back here and look at what happened man, let's go," Siano said.

Havre de Grace manager, Chad Blevins was pleased with the win. "We lost it the first time and we've been kind of anticipating this game for months," Blevins said. "This was just awesome. We love their coaches, we get along so good, but we come out here and we just battled."

Aberdeen manager Bob Arnold was disappointed, but appreciated the efforts of both teams. "Both pitchers brought it and we had some opportunities and didn't cash in and they had one really good opportunity and cashed in on it."

Shertzer leads Huskies

Patterson Mill (2-3) senior Christian Shertzer tossed a complete game, two-hitter Friday in Patterson Mill's 6-0 UCBAC win over visiting C. Milton Wright.

Shertzer walked three and struck out 11.

Shertzer also aided his cause at the plate, with a two-run double. Adding offense were Jackson Wheeler, 2-for-3 with an RBI and two stolen bases and Aiden Laurentius, 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Jon Klein pitched five and a third innings for the Mustangs, allowing three hits, three walks and five runs (three earned). Klein struck out seven.

Preston Henigan went 2-for-3 to lead the CMW (2-2) offense.

Other scores

North Harford (4-0) won at Rising Sun (3-1), 8-6, and Harford Tech (2-1-1) won at Bel Air (1-2-1), 9-8.

Joppatowne (0-3) lost at Elkton (1-1-1), 3-2.