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Seven of 10 Bay Rivers District baseball programs have combined for seven state championships and six other finals appearances the previous 15 years. But never in district history had two defending BRD state titlists met until the defending Class 3 champion York Falcons played 2024 Class 2 winner Poquoson on Friday at the Islanders’ home field.
It was worth the wait.
Led by star Eli Tyndall’s relief-pitching effort and go-ahead, ultimately game-winning, two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning, Poquoson defeated York 7-6 in a see-saw, controversial game. It included a version of the “Pine Tar Incident,” similar to the famed 1983 game between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium.
York (1-3), which trailed 5-0 after an inning, got four runs back in the third and appeared to tie the game on Trevor Evans’ opposite-field double to left field off Tyndall in the top of the fourth that scored Cooper Leach from third base. When Evans settled onto second base, Islanders coach Craig Zimmerman protested to plate umpire Steve Reid that the pine tar on Evans’ Warstic Bonesaber bat had been applied beyond the allowable 18 inches.
Indeed, it did appear that the pine tar was about 21 inches from the bat-handle knob. So Reid called Evans out, ejecting him from the game and nullifying the run as the score remained 5-4 Poquoson.
“At our VHSL coaching clinic this year, they stressed the rule about pine tar (not) exceeding 18 inches,” Zimmerman said. “From where we were in the dugout, it looked like it was in the 20s.
“A rule’s a rule.”
Tyndall said, “I saw it at the beginning of the at-bat and said something to the umpire. I don’t really agree with the rule — (Evans) hit the ball pretty well — but it’s good to know the rulebook sometimes.”
Evans exited peacefully. Not so for Royals third baseman George Brett, who went ballistic after the plate umpire nullified his home run when Yankees manager Billy Martin protested the amount of pine tar on his bat (a ruling later reversed by Major League Baseball’s commissioner).
The Falcons recovered quickly enough.
York’s next batter, Alan Harris, doubled to center field off of Tyndall, scoring Leach from third and also driving in Jack Speth as the Falcons took a 6-5 lead. Poquoson (2-1) led 5-0 in the bottom of the first, an inning capped by a two-run triple by Islanders starting pitcher Dan Sperling off of Jack Harmon — the winning pitcher for York in the state championship game in June.
But Harmon retaliated with a two-run double to highlight a four-run outburst in the top of the third that pulled the Falcons to within 5-4. Tyndall replaced Sperling with no outs and men on second and third bases, then struck out three consecutive to get out of the jam.
The Falcons grabbed the lead on Harris’ double, but would miss the run they lost because of the pine-tar ruling. Tyndall’s double off of Harmon in the bottom of the fifth scored Dan McAdams, who had walked, and Christian Leonard, who had doubled.
York got runners to second and third with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Tyndall got out of that jam by popping up a batter harmlessly to second base.
York coach Nick Ham complimented his players following the disappointing ending.
“Our kids fought hard,” he said. “The ‘Pine Tar Incident’ and other things were working against us.
“It seems to be that way when certain people are involved.”
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