The Chesapeake High School baseball players and coaches are 4A champions of Maryland.

The Cougars reached the mountain summit on May 23, getting a complete-game, one-hit shutout from senior righty Drew Spinnenweber and a two-RBI single by senior Chris Ruszin to defeat Sherwood High School, 2-0, at Ripken Stadium, capturing a state title for the first time since 1997 and bringing the program’s second championship back home to Pasadena.

“We’ve played good baseball for a long time, and we’ve known that,” said Chesapeake head coach Ken King. “[This championship] really just solidifies what we know about ourselves. It’s a team that played together all year long. I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be prouder.”

In closing out a 23-2 season with a state championship, the Cougars put together a masterful performance against the Warriors and capped a playoff run that saw the team outscore the opposition 20-3 in five wins during the region and state tournaments. Chesapeake won its final 14 games, posted a shutout in seven of its final nine contests, including four in a row to close the season, and the win over the Warriors brought the pitching staff’s scoreless-inning streak to a staggering 32 innings.

Ruszin had helped vault the Cougars into the final with a pitching gem of his own three days prior, hurling a two-hit, complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win over Gaithersburg in the state semifinal at the University of Maryland.

The matchup with Gaithersburg came after Chesapeake won the East in dramatic fashion over North Point, as the Cougars overcame four errors and got a bases-loaded walk by Jordan Prosper in the 11th inning to claim a 1-0 win over the Eagles in the region final on May 17.

The Friday-night state final in Aberdeen was destined to be a pitcher’s duel from the outset. Sherwood (15-8) started lefthander Brady Adam, who entered the game 4-1 with a miniscule 0.21 ERA on the season and was topping 80 mph on his fastball, while Spinnenweber, who along with Ruszin and senior Chase Delost has all season been one of Chesapeake’s top pitchers, brought an 8-1 record with a 1.43 ERA into the night.

The Warriors, who defeated Chesapeake in the 4A state final in 2010, nearly got to Spinnenweber in the top of the first, getting their first two batters on base via an error and a walk, but Spinnenweber fielded a sacrifice bunt for the first out and struck out the next two batters to escape the jam unscathed.

Adam, meanwhile, didn’t allow a run through two innings and recorded his first six outs on strikeouts, but not without allowing three walks and throwing over 40 pitches as the Chesapeake batters patiently made him work for every out.

In the top of the second, Adam walked, but Spinnenweber blew a fastball past one Sherwood batter and froze another with a curveball to again get the last two outs on strikeouts.

“I definitely had my best stuff,” said Spinnenweber, who finished with 13 strikeouts. “I was locating the ball. I was throwing everything I wanted for strikes.”

Pitching wasn’t all the senior All-Metro first-teamer was doing, either. After striking out the Sherwood side in the top of the third, the lefty-batting Spinnenweber led off the bottom of the third with an opposite-field double down the left field line, the game’s first hit, and Drexel took a hit-by-pitch to give the Cougars two runners on with no out.

Both runners advanced on a double steal, and Ruszin stepped into the box for the kind of scenario every player of every sport dreams about: the chance to give his team the lead in the championship game.

“Second and third with nobody out, I’m just trying to put something in play,” said Ruszin.

After falling behind in the count 0-2, Ruszin battled back to 2-2 before hammering a line drive up the middle, plating Spinnenweber and Drexel.

“My first at bat, I don’t even think I got the bat off my shoulder,” he said. “[In the second at bat] I got in a hole, and I came through. Guys get on base. Spinn got it started. We got two-hit, but two hits at the right time, and it’s the difference.”

It was all the run support Spinnenweber needed, as he continued to frustrate Sherwood’s lineup, though not without tiptoeing around trouble. He sat Sherwood down in order in the fourth inning, striking out two, but in the fifth, Sherwood got runners to second and third, and after an intentional walk to Adam, the Warriors had the bases loaded with two out.

In possibly the game’s most pressure-packed moment, Spinnenweber shined, dropping a curveball for a called third strike and the third out, sending his teammates and the large and lively Chesapeake fan section into a frenzy of applause.

As he walked to the dugout, every Chesapeake supporter in the stadium was high-fiving and cheering, but Spinnenweber’s game face remained an all-business expression of focus and intensity.

“I like to save the excitement for the end,” said Spinnenweber afterwards, wearing a wide smile. “I’ve got it on the inside even if I don’t show it on the outside. It’s in there.”

Spinnenweber sat down the Sherwood side in order in the sixth, putting the Cougars three outs from a championship entering the seventh.

No Chesapeake win would be complete without a sparkling defensive play—catcher Ray Rose threw out Gaithersburg’s first base runner on a steal attempt to set the tone defensively in the state semifinal victory—and it was Austin Weiss who did the honors in the final. The senior outfielder sprinted 150 feet to snare a pop fly as he crashed into the wall in foul territory down the right field line for the second out in the top of the seventh, moving Chesapeake to within an out of its state championship.

“I said it after the Maryland game [against Gaithersburg]: We’ve got the best defense in the state,” said Ruszin. “I’m pretty comfortable saying that after tonight. Weiss’ catch out there in right was incredible.”

Sherwood’s final batter grounded out to Delost at first base, and Chesapeake’s season was complete with a state championship and a pile-on celebration at the pitcher’s mound.

Ruszin said the team remained confident all along, even after a subpar season record-wise last year.

“Even last year we thought we could have been here with our pitching,” he said. “Our record didn’t indicate it, but we didn’t get blown out last year. We knew we had the pitching to [win the state championship], and if we could just string together a couple hits, get a couple runs, we can beat anybody.”

Drexel reflected on the journey traveled by the senior class.

“Most of us, the seniors, we’ve played together for four years, and this is our last game together. This is the pinnacle,” he said. “We can’t get it any better than this. It’s really special to do it in our last game in our last year.”

Spinnenweber knew this group wasn’t going to be deterred by last season’s unlucky breaks or intimidated by any teams in Anne Arundel County, the region or the state.

“We’re all good players, you know?” he said. “We’ve got good chemistry. Everybody on this team likes each other. We all have each other’s backs. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

The Chesapeake baseball team is comprised of Spinnenweber, Ruszin, Delost, Drexel, Weiss, Rose, Prosper, Logan Ridgeway, Kyle Davis, Troy Kalkman, Patrick Blum, Matt Seiss, Kaleb Clayville, Brett Marsh, Dylan Kelly, Perry Freeberger and Justin Snyder. The team is coached by Ken King, Michael Marsh, Chris Kojack and Kevin Heiser and were aided through the playoffs by JV coaches Tim Buck and Jeff Young.

Game Notes:

-Chesapeake brought a noticeably larger and louder group of supporters than Sherwood. Cougar fans brought light-up signs and noisemakers, and a collection of students spelled out COUGARS on their stomachs. A group of over 30 students stood behind the Chesapeake dugout for the entire game, never sitting, shaking and banging noisemakers constantly. The seniors on the team said it was the opposite scenario in 2010, when Sherwood’s fan base outnumbered Chesapeake’s, and they all appreciated the support from the community.

“The fans were great today,” said Drexel. “I remember in 2010 [Sherwood] blew us away with the fans. It was great to have so many today because it really did affect the game. It helped a lot.”

-King, still soaked from having the water cooler dumped on him by his players, noted how much everyone on the team has contributed to wins this year, citing timely hits and stellar defensive plays by many different players throughout the season. “It’s never the same guy. It’s been that way all year,” he said.