Cape baseball returns to state championship game
“I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night.” - Bonnie Tyler.
Cape senior Owen Daminger warmed up in the bullpen and told Cape coach Ben Evick he was ready, and when 6-foot-3 starter Nick Cox hit his pitch count with the score at 2-1 in the seventh of the Vikings’ DIAA semifinal against Saint Mark’s, the 5-foot-8-inch right hander stepped to the hill. With ice water in his veins, he blew a fastball past Garrett Quinn to send the Vikings into the DIAA finals.
“I’ve waited my whole life for something like this,” said Daminger. “Nick had a heck of a game. He shoved the game like he’s been doing all year, and for me to have to back that up … it’s awesome. Man, the people were going crazy, but I knew my teammates had my back. This is so great.”
“It feels so good to go to the show,” said Cox. “I’m so hyped for this. We started a little shaky at the beginning of the season, but we’ve worked really hard to get where we are now. It’s so great.”
The Saint Mark’s fans thought the Spartans found a weak spot in Cox, as they hit two singles and worked a walk to score one run in the first inning. But they couldn’t have been more wrong, as the first-team all-state pitcher allowed just two more hits until he reached his pitch count with two on base in the top of the seventh.
Cox helped his cause at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double. He scored the winning run in the bottom of the second. Josh Reinhold went 1-for-3 and scored Timmy Hitchcock in the first. Hitchcock went 1-for-2 with a walk. Austin Rhue went 1-for-3.
Cox finished the game with seven strikeouts and allowed just one earned run. Daminger threw just eight pitches, hitting a batter, but striking out one.
“I warmed up two pitchers, and Owen said he was ready,” said Cape head coach Ben Evick. “That was a big situation for him to come into, and I told him to just take a deep breath and execute his pitches and we have his back regardless, and he came through.”
Evick coached the Vikings to their first state championship in 2018 and he’s looking forward to getting back into the DIAA finals.
”We’re so pumped up for it,” he said. “These guys have worked hard all year and have earned this shot.”
Cape Henlopen faces No. 3 Appoquinimink in Monday’s state finals at 7 p.m. at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington.
