Brentwood Pitching Wins District Final over MRH

Five Maplewood Richmond Heights errors hurt their effort.

The Blue Devils were looking for their first championship since 1963, but it wasn't to be. Brentwood baseball claimed the Class 3 District 4 championship Tuesday against Maplewood Richmond Heights; its third district championship in a row. Brentwood picked off MRH pitchers Richard Rasmussen and Zechariah Biship for 11 hits, while MRH got only six off Brentwood starter Bradley Jones. Brentwood made just one error in the game while MRH committed five. See game photos at Maplewood-Brentwood Patch Facebook. MRH led 1-0 after an inning on hits from Daniel Williams and Will Wadsworth, but Brentwood's Steven Sadler singled in the second, and three more hits followed. Brentwood was up 3-1 after two. Join Maplewood-Brentwood Patch for more …

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WATCH: First 2 Innings At Bats in Brentwood at MRH

The baseball Eagles and Blue Devils met for the first time this season.

Brentwood baseball traveled to Deer Creek Park on Wednesday for the first Eagles-Blue Devils matchup. Brentwood took the game 9-4. Maplewood scored first in the third inning, but couldn't make up for the Eagles' four in the fourth. Brentwood left Deer Creek Park with a 5-2 record. The Blue Devils stood at 3-4. The next meeting of the two teams will be at Brentwood Park on April 26. Watch the at bats in the first two innings of the game.

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MRH Baseball Coach Jonathan Webb: It's Time for a District Win

Webb said the team knows well that the last time MRH baseball won Districts was 1963.

Jonathan Webb starts his third year as Maplewood Richmond Heights head baseball coach this spring. He said in an interview with Patch that his 2013 team isn't heavy with seniors, but they should have the experience to win the district, something Brentwood has done the past two years. Webb said he still thinks about MRH's 4-3 loss to Brentwood in the district final in 2011, his first year as head coach. He said it's been exactly 50 years since MRH baseball has won Districts, and said it's about time. Read more about Blue Devils baseball:

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Brentwood and MRH Baseball Both Advance to District Semis

Great pitching was the story for both wins.

Brentwood and Maplewood Richmond Heights both sailed through their first-round district baseball games behind good pitching. Brentwood dominated Crossroads 11-0 in five innings and MRH handled Cleveland 11-3 at the district games at Brentwood Park. MRH coach Jonathan Webb said the star of the game for them was freshman Zech Biship. "He pitched one of the best games we've had this year," Webb said. "When a kid comes out there and strikes out 16, you got a pretty good chance to win." See more photos at Maplewood-Brentwood Patch Facebook page. (Like It!) Sophomore Ryan Vogeli pitched a one-hit shutout for the Eagles. "He faced 16 batters–one above the minimum. Didn't walk a guy and struck out five," Brentwood coach Mike Imergoot said. "That's…

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Baseball: Eagles Over Devils, More of a Battle Than Either Team Expected

MRH's team of mostly freshmen faced a Brentwood senior pitcher.

Maplewood Richmond Heights’ team of six freshmen, two sophomores and a junior battled Brentwood in the first meeting of the two teams this season. Eagles senior pitcher Jesse Sneed went the distance to get the 8-4 win at Deer Creek Park. See more MRH photos on Maplewood-Brentwood Facebook. See more Brentwood photos on Maplewood-Brentwood Facebook. “Gutty performance on the mound,” Brentwood coach Mike Imergoot said. “Jesse was running out of gas and was really a hero. He was really good early. He got behind in the count, but he came right back, and bulldogged it in the ninth inning.” (There are actually seven innings in high school games.) “Late in the game, my arm was getting a little tired,” Sneed said.   He was happy his team backed him…

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MRH Loses Home Opener, Plays Brentwood at Deer Creek on Thursday

The Eagles have two of the hot batters in the area.

Maplewood Richmond Heights baseball is underway. The Blue Devils palyed their home opener on Thursday against Midland. MRH scored three in the 5th, five in the 6th, then one in the bottom of the 7th, which wasn't enough to overcome Midland's tally, losing 9-13. See more photos from the MRH home opener on the Maplewood-Brentwood Facebook page, (which you can Like while you're there!) The Devils play John Burroughs on Monday, Hancock on Tuesday, then Brentwood at Deer Creek on Thursday. Brentwood plays Metro at home on Monday and Crossroads away on Wednesday, before the MRH Thursday meeting. Brentwood's Dylan McGehee is batting .706 with 17 at bats and Kevin Smith is at .667 with 15 at bats.

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MRH Hires Assistant Baseball Coach

The prospective coach is a 2007 MRH graduate. The school board needs to approve the decision before it's official.

Ryan Robertson, a 2007 graduate from Maplewood Richmond Heights High School, has been selected as an assistant baseball coach, pending school board approval. Robertson played with head coach Jonathan Webb during MRH's last district title game prior to the 2011 game against Brentwood. “You know he has a passion and cares about this high school,” athletic director Malcolm Hill said. “He’s going to work hard with our young baseball players, so we’re excited to have him.” Webb said Robertson will work primarily with infielders and the offensive game, especially base-running skills. Robertson graduated from the University of Tennessee with a business degree last year, and volunteered as an assistant MRH soccer coach in the fall. Rob Welcker, …

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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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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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