MRH Baseball Taking Major Strides Behind New Coach

With new coach Jonathan Webb, the Blue Devils improve through the spring to a strong finish in the district final.

First-year Maplewood Richmond Heights baseball coach Jonathan Webb realized that he was going to need to be patient as he learned about his new team while the players, in turn, learned about their new leader. There were certainly some growing pains during the 2011 regular season but the Blue Devils would prove to be more than a competitive team when it counted the most, the postseason. "We put ourselves in position by the end of the year to play district championship type baseball," Webb said. MRH was seeded third in its Class 2 district. But the top two seeds had the better of the Blue Devils in a big way during the regular season. MRH not only had lost twice to Brentwood but it had not scored a single run against the Eagles, losing one …

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Brentwood Rides High Drama to District Championship

Brentwood earns its first district championship in 17 years with a 4-3 win over rival MRH in the Class 2 District 5 final.

LADUE — Brentwood earned its first district championship in 17 years on Saturday with a 4-3 win over rival Maplewood-Richmond Heights in the finals of the Class 2 District 5 Tournament at Ladue Horton Watkins High. In the bottom of the eighth, after Brentwood junior Kevin Smith crushed a triple to deep right field, the Blue Devils (8-14, 3-6) opted to intentionally walk senior Ryan Marshall and freshman Dylan McGehee. That brought junior Tyler Jones to the plate with only one out. Jones tapped a swinging bunt just a few feet in front of home plate toward MRH pitcher Kevin Sapp, who tossed the ball to catcher Samuel Martin. Smith slid into home and was called safe as Martin couldn't hang on to the ball. "All I told Tyler was to put a bat on…

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Blue Devils Hold Off Barat to Advance to District Championship

The Blue Devils, the tourney's No. 3 seed, hang on to beat second-seeded Barat, 9-8.

Kevin Sapp showed Maplewood Richmond Heights fans why he's been the team's go-to pitcher this year on Wednesday night at Brentwood Park. Holding a one-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, with runners on third and second and two outs, the senior pitcher fired a strike past Barat Academy junior Sam Byrne to seal the Blue Devils' 9-8 second-round Class 2 district win. They'll play for the district championship on Thursday night. Sapp's standout performance included 10 strikeouts, plus three hits and three runs batted in as a batter. "I just had winning on my mind the whole time," Sapp said. "I gave my team the opportunity to compete for a district championship tomorrow." Like many other MRH games this season, the victory didn't come…

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Sports Notebook

Notebook: Brentwood Girls Soccer, Baseball Stay Hot

The Eagles soccer team is 11-5 while the baseball team is 12-4.

As the high school spring sports season begins to wind down and we enter postseason competition across each of the spring sports, we’d like to give fans and supporters of area teams an update. Here is a recap of what went down last week, and a brief look at what is coming up for area teams this week: BRENTWOOD Much of the recent sports talk at Brentwood has been about its red-hot baseball and soccer teams. The Eagles soccer team pushed its season record to 11-5 with a perfect 3-0 record last week. Brentwood outscored its three opponents, Hillsboro, Maplewood Richmond Heights and Metro Academy, by a combined score of 10-2 in what were increasingly impressive performances last week. Brentwood will look to add to its win streak with three …

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Brentwood's Smith Blanks MRH in Pitching Duel

Brentwood junior Kevin Smith shuts out MRH, 2-0, to outduel MRH senior Kevin Sapp.

After a 14-0 drubbing by Brentwood three days ago, Maplewood Richmond Heights definitely wanted to play a better game at Deer Creek Park on Tuesday against the Eagles. They did show improvement, but not quite enough. MRH senior ace pitcher Kevin Sapp faced Brentwood junior Kevin Smith, and each turned in a great performance, but it was Smith who came out on top. The Eagles shut out the Blue Devils again, this time 2-0. It was Smith's third straight shutout. Sapp kept MRH in the game, but the Blue Devils couldn't capitalize with men on base. "Kevin gave us a very strong performance on the mound, and that's something that we have to take advange of," MRH coach Jonathan Webb said. "We didn't really do that, and we had our opportunities. We …

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MRH Stunned by Late Inning Home Run

Hancock grabbed the win in 10 innings.

Hancock catcher Nathan Vineyard broke a 6-6 tie in the 10th inning when he crushed a two-RBI home run in left field to permanently give the Tigers a lead over Maplewood Richmond Heights (1-4, 1-1) in Maplewood on Thursday. The Blue Devils lost 10-6. It was Vineyard's second home run of the game. He also hit a solo shot in the fourth in the same spot. Hancock scored two more runs after the 10th inning homer to put an exclamation point on the win. "They were one inning better than we were today," MRH coach Jonathan Webb said. The Blue Devils had several opportunities to win the game. MRH held a 5-2 lead in the fifth but gave up three runs in the top of the sixth. The Blue Devils' bats responded to grab a one-run lead in the bottom of the …

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SLUH Downs MRH in Five

Blue Devils face a tough early schedule.

Maplewood Richmond Heights followed its heartbreaking seventh-inning loss to McCluer on Wednesday with a disappointing loss to St. Louis University High (SLUH) on Thursday. SLUH held the Blue Devils (0-2) to three hits in a 11-1 blowout in five innings. But a challenging nonconference schedule is important to prepare for conference play, said coach Jonathan Webb. "We'll be better for it. It's good for us to face a team like this," he said. "This is a real quality team." Senior Kevin Sapp went 2-3 with a single and double and collected the team's only RBI while sophomore Montel Maggitt (1-1) chipped in with another single.  KaShon Hagens went 0-2 with a walk and run; Charles BoClair went 0-1 with two walks; and David Kunce went 0-1 with a …

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McCluer Escapes With Win Over MRH

Maplewood Richmond Heights fought back late in the game.

A seventh-inning home run from McCluer senior Lance Jeffries spoiled a late Maplewood Richmond Heights rally as the Comets beat the Blue Devils 7-6 at Deer Creek Park on Wednesday night. MRH trailed McCluer 5-3 in the sixth inning after a string of McCluer pitchers retired 12 consecutive MRH batters between the second and sixth innings. MRH junior Brad Swedlund broke the streak with a single to center field in the sixth. Junior Sam Martin followed with a two-run homer to tie the game at 5. Jeffries then broke the tie with his home run to right field and junior Jamaine Richmond followed that with a triple hit to nearly the same spot. Richmond later scored on a passed ball to put McCluer ahead, 7-5. MRH had an opportunity to capture the lead…

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