Northern, Allegany host 1A West Region I baseball semifinals Saturday

The Maryland Class 1A West Region I baseball playoffs continue today with two spots in the championship on the line.

Those positions will be decided by a pair of county rivalry games in the region semifinals.

Top-seeded Northern (13-6) hosts fourth-seeded Southern (9-10) at 3 p.m., and No. 2 seed Allegany (11-6) plays host to No. 3 seed Fort Hill (10-9-1) in a 2 p.m. first pitch.

The Campers, the defending Class 1A state champion, have won the last two region titles and three of the past four. Northern has two region crowns in the past five seasons (2023, ‘21).

Both favorites swept regular-season series. Northern beat Southern, 9-1 and 11-1, and Allegany defeated Fort Hill, 3-0 and 8-3.

Pitching probables in the battle for Garrett County are Northern right-hander Landon Yoder (4-1, 3.77 ERA) and either Southern RHP Ryan Bird (1-3, 3.59 ERA) or LHP Cade Leader (2-2, 3.08 ERA).

Northern’s offense is led by Jake Chambers, the Western Maryland Athletic Conference batting champ who hits .517 with a .625 on-base percentage, four homers, 26 runs batted in and 25 runs scored.

Bird has a team-high .333 average for the Rams and paces the team in RBIs (21) and home runs (four). Reece Tasker has three big flies.

Probables in the Cumberland city game are Allegany RHP Kohen Madden (5-1, 1.29 ERA) and Fort Hill RHP Bobby Brauer (2-1, 2.30 ERA).

Madden has a team-high .538 batting average for Alco with 22 RBIs and 17 runs scored, both Camper-best marks.

Coye Resh (.397 average) and Brauer (.394) are the Sentinels’ leading hitters.