23-05-2025
Sherwood returns to championship form, wins Maryland 3A baseball title
Sherwood is no stranger to big moments. The baseball program that Coach Sean Davis has built in Sandy Spring has evolved into the most feared in Maryland, and Friday's trip to the Maryland Class 3A championship game in Bowie was a familiar one. The experience of playing in a larger stadium, the stakes of knowing this was what an entire season of work came down to — it was nothing new.
Playing with a championship confidence, the Warriors beat Chopticon, 8-3, to claim their fourth state title in five seasons and sixth overall.
'The boys were probably more calm than I was, and they did a great job,' Davis said. 'It's not about the win or the loss. It's that I got to see 22 great kids have one of the happiest moments of their life together. That will never get old for me.'
From 2021 to 2023, Sherwood (23-3) won three consecutive titles at the 4A level. Their 16-game playoff winning streak was snapped in the region finals last season, but there was never a thought within the program that it was anything more than an anomaly on their record of authority over local competition.
'When this team was made in March, I already knew we could go far,' senior center fielder Jacob Bagania said.
Pitching and defense were never a concern for Davis, but experimentation was necessary to find the right lineup. If the Warriors could just score six runs per game, the coach said, they wouldn't be beat. Eventually, sophomore Jaiden Sarita was moved to the cleanup spot. All of the sudden, the runs started flowing with more ease.
The move paid dividends again on Friday when Sarita drove in four runs.
'My mindset in the box is to attack, attack, attack,' Sarita said. 'I know that if we hit the ball, we have a defense behind us that'll play elite baseball all seven innings.'
With junior outfielder Carter Sweeney-Strawberry, a Rutgers commit, forced to miss extended time with an injury, Sherwood's depth was put to the test this postseason. The Warriors passed with flying colors. Bagania was dynamic out of the leadoff spot, with shortstop Ryan Rey providing a lethal one-two punch behind him. Senior Bryce Sheahin played the part of ace pitcher, tossing a three-hit, six-strikeout complete game shutout in Tuesday's semifinal win over Chesapeake.
But perhaps their greatest ability was their championship experience. Groups like this are uniquely built to weather momentum swings in consequential games, so when Chopticon (17-6) plated the first run of Friday's contest in the second inning, Sherwood remained unfazed. By the end of the fourth, the Warriors led, 6-1.
'It soothed the nerves," Bagania said of playing in his second state championship game. 'Going into this game two years ago, I didn't really know what to expect. But now that this is my second time here, I felt more calm."
Chopticon's greatest threat came in the top of the fifth, with the middle of the order up, bases loaded and no outs. A walk and an error brought the score to 6-3. If there was a time for the Braves to eat into their deficit, this was it.
That was when Sherwood senior Ty Hames bore down. He got two quick outs before finishing the inning with a strikeout. As his teammates fist pumped, Hames kept his vision low, calmly walking to the dugout.
'Before the game even started, I told the guys it was going to take all seven innings,' Hames said. 'At Sherwood, it's kind of state championship or bust.'
Six outs later, it was over. Hames took out the last three batters in order, finishing the game with a groundout to third base. His career ended right where it has for so many to come through Sherwood in recent years — at the bottom of a dogpile.
