Yorktown’s baseball team finishes first in regular season play

Thanks to a five-game winning streak to end the regular season, the Yorktown Patriots topped the Liberty District baseball rankings to earn the top seed and receive a first-round bye in the league tournament.

Yorktown (14-5, 9-3) hosts its first game of what will be a semifinal contest on May 14 at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of a first-round tie between the host and fourth-seeded Herndon Hornets and No. 5. seed Wakefield Warriors.

Yorktown defeated Wakefield, 14-5, and Langley, 8-3, in the final two high school games of the regular season.

In the win against Langley, the Patriots took control, scoring five runs in the first inning, then added three in the sixth.

Grayson McCarthy started and pitched five innings to get the win, striking out six.

With the bat, Isaac Hobbs (three RBI), Jack Rucker (two RBI) and Bryan Slattery all had two hits. Coby Casalengo had a two-run single and John Rizzo and Jack Rubin had singles.

Against Wakefield, Rucker had three hits, including a solo homer. Rubin added a two-run home run, Owen Woodward doubled twice, Aidan McCracken had a two-run triple and an RBI double, Hobbs added a two-run double and a groundout, Slattery had a single two runs, Rizzo had an RBI double, Keegan Westhoff singled home, and Thomas Koomey singled.

Yorktown used four pitchers in the win, with Dereje Reichert as the starter.

Rucker pitched in relief in both contests, working a total of three shutout innings.

In its previous three games, Yorktown defeated McLean, 13-3, and blanked Marshall, 4-0, and the Washington-Liberty Generals, 1-0.

The Washington-Liberty team, seed no. 7, is scheduled to face the no. 2 and host the McLean Highlanders in a first round game tonight, May 10 at 6:30 p.m. The teams split two regular season contests.