High School

Postseason heroics put Cuellar, Radcliffe and Seidler into ‘Prep Ballplayer of Week’ mix

By Dean Jones

Posted on May 23, 2016

We’re now in the final week of high school baseball in the Baltimore area.

The MIAA A Conference championship begins Monday night at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen. Archbishop Spalding, which has won the past two conference titles, needs to beat Gilman once, while the Greyhounds – who last won the conference in 2010 – must win two straight since they already have a playoff loss.

The Cavaliers finished with the best record in the MIAA A Conference in the regular season before beating Gilman (11-1 on Monday) and Calvert Hall (5-4 on Wednesday) in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the fifth-seeded Greyhounds have gone 3-1 in the postseason. They beat St. Paul’s, 4-1, on May 13 before being routed by Spalding. Gilman then won two elimination games (6-3 over Mount Saint Joseph on Wednesday and 5-1 over Calvert Hall on Friday) to advance to the title game.

In the MIAA B Conference, Boys’ Latin only needs to win one more game for its first conference title since 2008. The Lakers advanced to the championship with a 9-2 victory over Severn on Thursday. They’ll play Severn or Glenelg Country, who still need to complete their elimination game after it was suspended Sunday with the Admirals leading, 8-4, in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Six local teams will play in the MPSSAA state semifinals tomorrow night.

In Class 4A, Bel Air will face Bowie, of Prince George’s County, at 7 p.m. at the University of Maryland’s Shipley Field. Aberdeen will play against Huntingtown, of Calvert County, in the 4 p.m. Class 3A semifinal at Joe Cannon Stadium, while Chesapeake-Anne Arundel will take on Montgomery County’s Damascus at 7 p.m.

Eastern Tech will travel to play La Plata, of Charles County, at Montgomery Blair High School in a Class 2A semifinal at 7 p.m. And in Class 1A – in the only semifinal matchup between local teams – Patterson Mill will face Pikesville at 7 p.m. at Frederick’s McCurdy Field.

The Class 4A title game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Shipley Field, while the other three classifications will play at Ripken Stadium on Saturday. The Class 1A title game will be played at noon, followed by Class 2A at 3 p.m. and Class 3A at 6 p.m.

Because the season is wrapping up, we’ll conclude with one more BaltimoreBaseball.com Prep Ballplayer of the Week contest next week. Our award is designed to highlight three of the top high school performances in the area with a post every Monday. Then, our readers get to vote – early and often – for the finalist they believe should be our winner. To vote, make your selection at the bottom of this post. Voting ends 11:59 p.m. Thursday night. We’ll reveal the winner Friday.

Last week, left-handed pitcher Tyler Blohm became the second Archbishop Spalding athlete to be named BaltimoreBaseball.com Prep Ballplayer of the Week this year. He received nearly 6,500 of the more than 10,500 total votes.

Details on each of this week’s three candidates – for the games from May 16 to 22 – are listed below, as well as the other players who received serious consideration.

If you would like to submit candidates to be considered for our final Prep Ballplayer of the Week, please send the player’s name, key statistics from the previous week and your contact information to [email protected].

THIS WEEK’S FINALISTS

Anthony Cuellar, Aberdeen
The Eagles are headed back to the state semifinals for the first time since Cal Ripken Jr.’s senior year in 1978. And Cuellar played a pivotal role in that as he batted .438 (7-for-16) with two doubles, seven RBIs and three runs scored in Aberdeen’s first four playoff games. In the Class 3A North Section II semifinal Tuesday, the 5-foot-6, 160-pound junior had an RBI single in the seventh inning and a walk-off RBI single in the eighth as the Eagles came back to beat Dundalk, 6-5. Then, the next day, he had a two-run single as Aberdeen upset North Harford, 6-4, in the Section II final. On Friday, Cuellar was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs in the Eagles’ 11-4 win over Lansdowne in the regional final.

Zack Radcliffe, Bel Air
Thanks to Radcliffe’s dominating performance Wednesday, the Bobcats are still in position to win their first state title since 2013. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound left-hander pitched a no-hitter with five strikeouts as Bel Air edged Catonsville, 1-0, in the Class 4A North Section I final. Radcliffe retired the side in the seventh inning on two groundouts and a strikeout to complete the victory. The no-hitter came five days after Bobcats senior left-hander Jack Jenkens tossed a six-inning perfect game in a 10-0 win over Parkville in their postseason opener. Radcliffe also was 1-for-3 with an RBI single and a run scored in Bel Air’s 3-0 win over Howard in the regional final Friday. Overall, the junior has a 1.85 ERA in 37 2/3 innings this year.

Joe Seidler, Chesapeake-Anne Arundel
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound right-hander is a Prep Ballplayer of the Week finalist for the second time this season. Seidler picked up two more victories for the Cougars this week, running his record to 10-0 with a 0.56 ERA in 63 innings on the season. In the Class 3A East Section II semifinal Monday, he held Atholton to just one run and two hits as Chesapeake – which is seeking its second state title in three years – cruised to an 11-1 win in five innings. Then, in the regional final Friday, Seidler struck out eight batters and pitched his seventh complete game of the year in the Cougars’ 3-2 victory over Mount Hebron. The sophomore, who also picked up an RBI with a bases-loaded walk, held the Vikings to one earned run and two hits. And in a 7-2 win Wednesday in the Section II final over Stephen Decatur, of Worcester County, Seidler had a bases-clearing double in the fourth inning to break open the game.

Others considered (listed alphabetically): Hunter Coppell, Eastern Tech; Drew Ehrlich, Gilman; Emmanuel Engermann, Gilman; David Fulp, Aberdeen; Billy Godrick, Archbishop Spalding; David Harding, Archbishop Spalding; Cole Jarrett, Boys’ Latin; Thomas Kragh, Patterson Mill; Jacob Michael, Patterson Mill; Ryan Richardson, Chesapeake-Anne Arundel; Ian Tokofsky, Eastern Tech; Michael Yetter, Bel Air.

BALTIMOREBASEBALL.COM PREP BALLPLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Week 1 (April 4-10): Billy Godrick, Archbishop Spalding
Week 2 (April 11-17): Jack Sheehan, Loyola Blakefield
Week 3 (April 18-24): Michael Yetter, Bel Air
Week 4 (April 25-May 1): Bryce Logan, Fallston
Week 5 (May 2-8): Brandon Martin, Westminster
Week 6 (May 9-15): Tyler Blohm, Archbishop Spalding