Baseball puts Bengals on map

                   This spring the Blake baseball team put its school on the map, although no
              one is quite sure where. Is Blake in Olney or Silver Spring? Or is it in
              Norwood, Spencerville or Ashton?
                  No one seems to have a handle on Blake. Tuesday night in the Class 2A
              state championship game, when the Bengals were down to their final out in
              their 6-4 loss, fans from Centennial altered the old familiar refrain. Instead of
              ``Start up the bus'' they chanted ``Start up the tractor.''
                  Imagine that - a Howard County school thinking one from Montgomery
              County is in the sticks.
                  Blake poses more than a geographic dilemma. When the school opened, I
              was under the impression it was named for a piano player, Eubie Blake. But it
              turns out to be James H. Or perhaps it was named for Robert Blake, the
              former star of ``Baretta'' who seems to be on O.J. Simpson's career path.
                  Until this spring, Blake was known in athletic circles as the weak sister in
              the Paint Branch-Springbrook-Blake consortium. Students who live in the
              cluster chose which school to attend. It didn't appear coincidental that most of
              the athletes went to Paint Branch and Springbrook.
                  If Kobe Bryant grew up in Silver Spring, he'd go to Springbrook. If Randy
              Moss grew up in Silver Spring, he'd go to Paint Branch. If The Student
              Formerly Known As Prince grew up in Silver Spring, he'd go to Blake.
                  In two seasons of varsity competition, Blake has had precious little success.
              The football team won five games. After an 0-25 start, the boys basketball
              team won its first game in history last December.
                  But baseball doesn't fit the model. Last spring in its debut season, Blake
              went 10-8. This year the Bengals won 18 straight games and went all the way
              to Joe Cannon Stadium.
                  ``Some of my players left schools as sophomores where they would have
              been playing for varsity programs,'' said Blake coach Jim Fliakas. ``I told
              them, `You took a risk coming here, you stick with me for three years, we can
              get it done. We have a unique opportunity to be the first.'''
                  But Fliakas' players had ample reason to believe they had an opportunity to
              be ``last'' too.
                  Still, along came the core of this year's squad: Kevin Cunningham from
              Gonzaga, Brian Roberson from St. John's, John Schmidt from Good Counsel,
              and Erik Neilsen from Seattle. This year Cunningham and Schmidt pitched to
              a 15-2 record. Cunningham and Roberson combined for 13 home runs, and
              both, along with Neilsen, hit over .400.
                  Blake wasn't a charmed team dependent on late-inning magic. The Bengals
              truly were a powerhouse. After a 6-0 loss to Springbrook in March, Blake
              won 18 in row, outscoring opponents 158-35. Only one of those victories
              came by one run and only one came by two. With a 1.34 ERA, .347 average
              and 28 home runs, Blake blew teams away.
                  Tuesday night's state championship game was a celebration of Blake's
              dominant season. The Bengals' fans had to travel further to get to Harmans
              but far outnumbered those from of Centennial. When Blake filled the bases in
              the final two innings and appeared destined to write an appropriate final
              chapter for its storybook season, the noise from the Bengal fans reverberated
              all the way to I-95.
                  But it was not to be. Centennial (17-9) had a much less dominant season.
              After a 3-2 loss to River Hill earlier this month, the Eagles were 8-9 and on
              the road to nowhere. But Centennial caught fire in the playoffs and after an
              8-4 victory over Hereford in the state semifinals, relished the matchup with a
              waltzing powerhouse.
                  ``Psychologically, you get in a situation when you've won 17-18 games in
              a row, you get out there, and you're playing not to lose,'' said Centennial
              coach Dave Appleby. ``We don't worry about that, yet. We're probably
                  on the cusp of that, but the season's over now. We won our last nine
              games. That's the perfect length of a win streak.''
                  Despite what appeared a mismatch on paper, the teams were similar. Both
              started their top pitcher, and neither was dominant. Blake had seven hits,
              Centennial six. The difference, however, was mistakes. Blake committed four
              errors that appeared on the scoreboard, and a few others that didn't.
                  The decisive runs came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Centennial
              loaded the bases and Cunningham bounced a wild pitch in the dirt. Blake
              catcher Mike Schmidt retrieved the ball and threw home to Cunningham.
              Eagles' runner A.J. Tinnerella slid past home plate but Cunningham, with ball
              in glove, failed to apply the tag and Tinnerella scrambled back to touch home
              safely. Then, as Cunningham and Schmidt returned to their positions, they
              ignored the runner on third, Brian Neidig, who raced home to make it 6-2.
                  ``The catcher didn't have his glove on,'' said Neidig. ``And the pitcher
              looked like he was upset that the run had come in. It looked like the perfect
              time to go.''
                  It was Centennial's first title in eight trips to the state tournament and four to
              the championship game. The Eagles have brought better teams to the state
              tournament, but have gone home disappointed.
                  ``Sometimes you look back on a state title and it can be a predestined
              thing,'' said Appleby. ``But it's better when it's a surprise.''
 

              Kevin Dunleavy is a
              Journal staff writer.