American Heritage Title Defense Ends In 11 Innings

4A Semifinal Photo Gallery

4A Semifinal Press Conference: American Heritage

Defending champion American Heritage squared off on Tuesday against Bishop Moore in a 4A semifinal. After 10.5 innings of scoreless baseball, the Horneys broke through in the bottom of the 11th, to win 1-0, and move on to the state title game.

Coming into Tuesday’s 4A state semifinal between defending champion American Heritage, and Bishop Moore, the Patriots had to feel good about their chances.

They had their ace, Brady Snow, on the mound. Snow went 6-2 this season, with an ERA under one, and nearly 90 strikeouts. He has been as dominant as any pitcher in the state.

The Hornets countered with their ace, JT Costello.

The dream match up never materialized, however, as after the first inning, there was a weather delay of over two hours.

When play resumed, the hornets chose to send back out Costello, while Heritage Manager Bruce Aven went to his co-ace, Mason McGeehan.

“Had it been a short delay, we likely would have came back with Brady,” said Aven. “But as the delay went on, we have to think about more than just winning this game. He has a professional career in front of him, and we weren’t going to take any chances with that. If it was up to him, he would have taken the ball. He wanted the ball. But we didn’t feel good about that.”

So McGeehan took the mound, and not much changed for the Patriots. He threw eight dominant, no-hit innings, striking out 11 Hornets along the way.

“If I am being honest, that is what I expected from him,” said Aven. “He has been our 1A all season, so it was not surprising to see how he performed out there today. He wasn’t planning on pitching today, so to make that adjustment and do what he did, was impressive,” said Aven.

While the Patriots were doing what they had done all year on the mound, the offense struggled to get anything going against Bishop Moore pitching. Heritage was only able to scatter three hits, and struck out 12 times on the afternoon.

“Pitching and defense has been our winning formula all year,” said Aven. “We didn’t barrel a lot of balls up today. When you get to this position, you have to change the approach a bit, shoot some balls the other way. This stadium plays big, and especially with the wind how it was early, not many balls are getting out of here. We just weren’t able to make that adjustment.”

Neither team had much offense to speak of, as the Horneyts managed just two hits. The difference in the game was Bishop Moore’s ability to work eight walks.

In the 11th inning, after a flyout to start the inning. the Hornets worked three straight walks, and when Hayden Ramos was hit by a pitch, Bishop Moore was on to the championship game.

Heritage finished the season at 21-10, and they will now turn their attention to the 2027 season, one that will be challenging without Snow and McGeehan, who accounted for over half of the Patriots wins and innings this year.

“Obviously losing these two guys is a big deal, they have been great for us all year,” said Aven. “But we will get back to work and start preparing to make another run next season.”

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