Mayers brothers send Hanover to semifinals

Whether it's travel baseball or in the backyard batting cage or sitting in the living room, there's always a little competition between the Mayers brothers.

Jake Mayers figured the postgame talk in the house last night would center not on his four-hit shutout in the state Group AAA quarterfinals, but on younger brother Eric's big hit.

The brothers had plenty to discuss after Hanover advanced to the state baseball semifinals for the first time in the school's sixth season with a 4-0 victory over visiting Lake Braddock before a crowd of at least 1,500 at Hanover.

Jake, a senior right-hander, yielded just four singles but had to make some big pitches to extricate himself from some jams in a tight game. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter.

Eric, a junior outfielder, staked his brother to a 3-0 lead in the first inning by driving a ball off the yellow padding on the top of the right-field fence with the bases loaded. He missed a grand slam by a couple of inches.

"Obviously, he's going to say he got three RBI under his belt," Jake said. "I'm going to get some credit, but Eric getting that hit and scoring those three runs, it helped me pitch better."

Central Region champ Hanover (23-1) will play Eastern Region champ Cox (23-5) of Virginia Beach Friday at 7 p.m. at Westfield High School in Chantilly.

Jake is the Central Region player of the year and has a scholarship to the University of Richmond. But his brother's reputation doesn't bother Eric.

"Eric's got such a unique personality, I don't think Eric cares," Hanover coach Charlie Dragum said. "He is overshadowed sometimes with Jake doing his thing and being on the mound. Eric athletically is phenomenal. He comes and goes as baseball goes. He dropped that fly ball [in the sixth inning], but he hit that three-run double. You get a little bit of both."

Hanover loaded the bases with two outs in the first inning. Eric, following the game plan to hit to the opposite field against left-handed cureveball specialist Brian Derner, made an inside-out swing and smacked a ball to right field.

"I was sitting fastball," Eric said."He got a little behind in the count, so I kind of expected him to toss one up there. I haven't done a good job of going to the opposite field. I got a little jammed. I didn't catch it on the sweet spot."

Hanover increased the lead to 4-0 in the third on Laine Denton's third homer in three games, a shot over the 375-foot marker just to the left of center field.

From there, J. Mayers had to wiggle out of some trouble spots. He stranded runners on the corners by getting a pair of strikeouts in the fourth, then left two more on base with a strikeout and a groundout in the sixth.

The Bruins, with four sophomores and four juniors in the lineup, finished 17-7.

"Every time [Jake] steps on the field, he performs," Eric said. "He definitely hit his spots and managed his curveball real well."

Lake Braddock ------------------------- 000 000 0 -- 0 4 0
Hanover ------------------------- 301 000 x -- 4 6 1

Derner and Weidinger; J. Mayers and Weymouth. HR: H: Denton.