Baseball: Loudoun County Hawks Crowned Kings of Ohio

(July 21, 2010) - As LeBron James made his announcement that he was leaving Cleveland and the state of Ohio behind for South Beach, The Loudoun County Hawks, a 17U travel baseball team affiliated with the NVTBL, marched into Columbus, and established themselves as the new kings of Ohio, pounding their way to win the Buckeye Elite Showcase Baseball Tournament 18U Championship.

The Hawks team is comprised primarily of rising seniors from several high schools located in Loudoun County. The Hawks’ coaches concur that every victory was a total team effort.

The 18U bracket of the tournament drew 96 teams primarily from Ohio and the other Great Lakes states. Teams had to win their pool games before being considered for the championship bracket. The Hawks went 3-0 in pool play and even came out in first place in run differential by scoring a combined 34 runs and only giving up three runs total in 3 games. Yielding only three runs was important, as rain postponed part of the tournament and only eight teams could advance to the championship round.

In the championship round, The Hawks won their quarterfinal game in extra innings, winning 6-4 in 10 innings, highlighted with a 2-run home run by Potomac Falls High School and Dulles District Player of the Year Mike Lascomb.

In the semifinal match up, the Hawks took advantage of a depleted pitching corps of their next opponent, and won 11-4. That victory set the Hawks up to play in the championship game held at Huntington Park in Columbus, the home field for the AAA ball club, the Columbus Clippers.

In the championship game, The Hawks faced an elite travel team from Ohio, which had a national sponsorship and 10 players entering college this fall to play different levels of divisional baseball. The Hawks jumped out early to take the lead 3-0, and hung on to win a very tight game, 7-6, in front of a very Ohio–biased group of fans.

The Hawks wrap up their season at a tournament at the University of Maryland this weekend.