Matchup between last two baseball state champs suspended due to darkness

CUMBERLAND – To be finished at another time. The last two Division I baseball teams to win the state title competed to a 4-4 tie after a 10-inning battle that lasted three-plus hours and saw hometown Cumberland and Bishop Hendricken exit Bentley Field with very few visible traces of daylight showing by the time the clock read 7:15 p.m.

on Monday. The home plate umpire waved to both dugouts as soon as the final out of the bottom of the 10th was recorded, a signal that play would be suspended due to darkness. With the R.



I. Interscholastic League adhering to an RPI system to determine playoff seeding, it's imperative the game must be completed. The Hawks entered the seventh three outs away from suffering their first in-state loss since 2023, when the Clippers handed Hendricken a defeat that resulted in a trip to that year’s D-I championship series.

The pressure then shifted to Cumberland, which went from hanging by a thread when the frame opened with back-to-back errors, to getting back on solid ground courtesy of a well-timed double-play ball. With two down and the potential tying run for Hendricken stationed at third, the Clippers endured a tough twist when a passed ball enabled All-Stater Braeden Campbell to cross the plate. Cumberland was retired in order in the home portion of the seventh, hence the need for extras.

A scoreless eighth was followed by two more scoreless frames before a lack of daylight became a concern. By then, it was about looking back at the key sequences that thwarted the bid to settle the issue much sooner. With two on and two down in the eighth inning, the Clippers had a chance to walk off a winner when Chace Austin lofted a deep drive to center field.

The base umpire ruled that Campbell made the catch, but was it? Several eyewitnesses stationed near the outfield fence told the Call/Times that Campbell didn’t catch the ball, yet their opinions don’t count - only the umpire’s. “Personally, I thought it got down, but sometimes, that’s the way the cookie crumbles,” said Cumberland head coach Steve Rocchio, who received four scoreless innings in relief from senior Andrew Nocera, who struck out six. The same two teams will meet again in the regular season – May 17th in Warwick – but another trip to Cumberland will be required to be made by Bishop Hendricken, the defending state champs.

“There’s no tie,” said Rocchio. “I assume we may resume prior to our second meeting with them. We’ll pick up where we left off – same guys in the lineup.

Everything will have to hold itself as is. They’ll have to come ready to go. We’ll have to come ready to go.

We’ll just go from there.” The Hawks wiped out a 4-1 deficit that was aided by some shoddy defense by the Clippers, who committed six errors. The mistakes forced Cumberland ace Ben Jahnz to throw additional pitches.

On a day when Hendricken repeatedly made loud contact against the URI commit, Jahnz dug deep and went six-plus innings. He did take a liner off his leg in the sixth inning – Hendricken scored on the play to make it 4-3 – but remained in the game. Jahnz’s final line featured four runs (two earned) on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

He threw 79 of his 109 pitches for strikes. “I think the approach with him [Jahnz] is that when your stuff isn’t overpowering, do what you can to get outs,” said Rocchio. Hendricken’s defense was also problematic –all four of Cumberland’s runs were unearned.

On the mound, the Hawks benefited from Dylan Poloski and the sophomore’s 5.2 scoreless innings in relief. His ability to string together one zero after another enabled the visitors to chip away and eventually catch Cumberland and send the game into extras.

“I thought we had a chance to put them away a few times, but we didn’t,” said Rocchio. Now, it’s about sitting tight until the day comes and the Hawks and Clippers resume play in the top of the 11th inning. Follow Brendan McGair on X, formerly Twitter, @BWMcGair03.