On Tuesday, May 9^th, McLean played host to the Marshall Statesman. The game was the Highlanders’ final regular season home game of the year, and Senior Night was celebrated prior to the first pitch. "We are very proud of all of our seniors this year", McLean coach John Thomas said. "They have all done outstanding jobs not only on the field as players, but also in the dugout as leaders. They are the biggest reason why we’ve had some success up to this point in the season."

The pitching match up featured McLean’s Danny Bell and Marshall’s Blair Delean, a University of Maryland signee. Bell came out uncharacteristically shaky and walked the first two Marshall hitters, both of whom scored to give the Statesman a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning. McLean did not wait long to respond though, countering with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the first to even the score at 2-2.

After neither team could push a run across in the second inning, Marshall struck again in the top of the third on a solo home run by catcher Alan Stoupa. McLean went down in order in the bottom of the third, and trailed 3-2 going into the top half of the fourth inning. Marshall pushed across another run in the bottom of the fourth, and McLean faced a two run deficit for the second time.

Frankie Cavanaugh led off the fourth for the Highlanders with a walk. Cavanaugh stole second as the next McLean batter struck out. Tyler Thompson then walked and stole second. Quinn Pippin then came up for McLean and hit a ground ball to third base. Cavanaugh broke for home, and was hit by the throw from the Statesman third baseman, making him safe at the plate. Thompson advanced to third base. Pippin then stole second base, and Thompson broke for home immediately after seeing Stoupa release the ball towards second. The Marshall short stop cut off the throw and attempted to throw Thompson out at home, but the throw was offline and McLean was able to tie the score at 4-4.

Shane Mills entered the game for McLean in the top half of the fifth inning. For the first time all year, Mills surrendered a home run to lead off the inning. The solo shot was Alan Stoupa’s second of the night, and gave Marshall a 5-4 lead. The Statesmen plated an additional unearned run in the inning to extend their lead to 6-4. McLean got out of the inning only after centerfielder Cavanaugh made an outstanding play by throwing out a Marshall runner attempting to score from second on a base hit to center. "An unbelievably clutch play", Coach Thomas said. Despite Cavanaugh’s heroics, however, Marshall had jumped out to a two run lead for the third time in the game.

The Highlanders never panicked. Mike McCollough led of the bottom of the fifth with a single. Pat Tawil entered the game as a courtesy runner and promptly stole second base. After the next two McLean hitters were retired, Frankie Cavanaugh came up with two outs and launched a double into the right-center field gap, scoring Tawil and making the score 6-5. Shane Mills followed with a double of his own to score Cavanaugh and even the score once again at 6-6.

Mills was able to settle in to the game after his shaky fifth inning, and pitched excellently for the Highlanders in the sixth and seventh innings. After neither team could push a run across, the senior closer pitched the eighth inning as well, marking his longest outing of the season (four innings). "Mills gave us all he had tonight", Coach Thomas remarked. "He probably did not have his best stuff out there, but he found a way to keep us in the game by battling as hard as he could. Our closer had to go four innings for us tonight, and he did it with sheer determination."

Meanwhile, Marshall’s Delean had exited the game for the Statesman after throwing the first seven innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Delean gave way to Justin Orndorff, who had earned the win against the Highlanders in the season’s first meeting between the two teams. Orndorff retired the Highlanders in order.

Frankie Cavanaugh took the hill for McLean in the top half of the ninth inning. Cavanaugh allowed a leadoff single to start off the ninth, then coaxed first baseman Jordan Culbreath into flying out to left field. The Highlanders then elected to intentionally walk Stoupa, which brought cleanup hitter Ryan Goss to the plate with runners on first and second and one out. Goss hit a high chopper on a 1-1 fastball to first baseman Shane Mills, who was forced to toss the ball to Cavanaugh, who was covering first, for the out. Meanwhile, the Statesmen base runner who had started the play on second base had come full speed around third and was attempting to score the go-ahead run. Cavanaugh stopped on a dime and threw a perfect strike to catcher Mike McCollough, who put the tag down just in time to nail the runner. For the second time in the ballgame, Cavanaugh had gotten McLean out of a jam with an assist at home plate. "That is a very tough play for a pitcher to make", Coach Thomas explained. "It took an absolutely perfect throw by Frankie to make that play. Fortunately, that is exactly what he gave us."

As fate would have it, Cavanaugh came to bat to lead off for McLean in the bottom of the tenth inning. The senior walked to give McLean the base runner it desperately needed, then stole second base to get into scoring position. After Mills reached first on an error by the Statesmen third baseman, Tyler Thompson came to the plate with nobody out and runners on first and second. The junior lined a fastball down the line in right field for a double, bringing Cavanaugh in with the winning run (Cavanaugh’s fourth of the game). "Yet another huge hit by Tyler", is how Coach Thomas summed it up. McLean had outlasted Marshall in a ten inning marathon that lasted almost four hours, and had earned a hard-fought 7-6 victory.

"That was one of the best high school games you could ever hope to see", Coach Thomas said. "I am so proud of our guys for hanging in there on a night when Marshall played really, really tough. We had our backs against a wall for what seemed like the majority of the game tonight, but every time we found a way to make good things happen. Every player on our team helped us earn this win tonight, but I am particularly proud of our seniors. Those guys refused to let us go down on Senior Night, and that’s the way it should be. Danny Bell didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled as hard as he could like he always does and kept us in the game even though Marshall was swinging the bat awfully well. Shane Mills went four innings for us on sheer guts. Kyle Meagher and Bird Sweeny may not have had career games offensively, but they both did the little things well and we do not win this game without their contributions. Mike McCollough had another great game for us behind the plate, and had to catch ten innings. That is not easy to do, and Mike really had to dig down deep to get it done for us tonight. Lastly, Frankie Cavanaugh was hands down the player of the game for us tonight. That may have been the best game I’ve ever seen him play. It’s not often that you see a kid play as complete a game as he played tonight. Frankie put us on his back tonight and led us to this win."

After the game, the Highlanders also received word that, due to the results from another Liberty District contest, McLean had clinched second place in the regular season Liberty District standings.

On Friday, May 12^th, the Highlanders were back on the road as they traveled to Fairfax to take on the Cavaliers of W.T. Woodson High School. The game was the regular season finale for both teams. Woodson had handed McLean it’s only home loss of the season earlier in the year, beating the Highlanders 6-5. The starting pitchers for the rematch included the Highlanders’ Tyler Thompson against the Cavaliers’ Greg Whitaker. Thompson entered the game having thrown a total of only 4 2/3 innings on the season. "Tyler has not thrown a whole lot for us so far this year, but we have a lot of confidence in his arm and in his competitiveness. We will certainly be relying heavily on him as a pitcher next season, so this is a good opportunity to get him some innings", Coach Thomas said.

Thompson threw the ball very well for McLean over the course of five (+) innings. Despite his relative Varsity inexperience as a hurler, the junior mixed his pitches very well and showed excellent velocity on his fastball in allowing the very talented Woodson lineup five runs while striking out seven. The right-hander earned his second victory in seven days as McLean prevailed 12-6.

"I thought that Tyler threw the ball really well for us out there tonight", Coach Thomas said. "He came out pitching aggressively from the first inning, and I thought he did a really nice job with that lineup. Woodson is one of the best hitting teams in our district, and Tyler got through their lineup three times. There aren’t too many pitchers in our league who’ve been able to do that this year. We think Tyler is going to be a very good high school pitcher before it’s all said and done."

The Highlanders offensive output was equally impressive. The team matched a season high with 17 hits. Also, for the second time in seven days, every McLean starter notched at least one base hit. The Highlanders were led by second baseman Bird Sweeny, who went 3-5 with 3 RBI. Kyle Meagher was 2-5 with 2 runs, Frankie Cavanaugh was 2-5 with an RBI, Shane Mills was 1-5 with an RBI, Thompson helped his own cause by going 3-4 with an RBI, Quinn Pippin was 2-4 with 2 runs, Drew Morgan was 1-3 with a run, Pat Tawil went 1-2 with a run in his first ever Varsity start, and Mike McCollough was 2-3 with 3 RBI.

"It was great to see our bats come alive today", Coach Thomas said. "We really put a complete game together offensively, and we got contributions from everybody. I thought that Bird really swung the bat well today, as did Tyler, Mike, and Quinn. Woodson refused to quit and hung around all game, but our bats kept us out in front all night. Hopefully, we can carry this kind of production over into the postseason."

With the win, McLean finished the regular season with a record of 15-5, including a Liberty District mark of 10-4, good for sole possession of second place. The win total is the highest regular season victory total ever for McLean (tied with the 2000 team), and they also equaled a school record ten district victories. McLean ensured itself a bye into the semi-finals of the Liberty District Tournament, and also ensured itself a bid into the Northern Region Tournament for the third year in a row.

"It feels great for us to wrap up the regular season on a winning note", Coach Thomas said. "For the most part, we have been playing excellent baseball throughout the second half of the season. We are extremely proud of the way our players have approached tough situations and found different ways to come out on top."

"All of our goals are still in front of us", Coach Thomas continued. "We think this team is good enough to play a lot more baseball, and accomplish a whole lot more."